BV  4832  .K595 
Knight,  G.  H. 
In  the  secret 
presence 


1905 

1835-1917 
of  His 


IN  THE  SECRET  OF  HIS  PRESENCE 


IN     THE     SECRET^^^^^LcGiCAL?!: 
OF  HIS  PRESENCE 


HELPS  FOR  THE  INNER  LIFE 
WHEN     ALONE     WITH     GOD 


BY    TUE    REV. 

G.    H.    KNIGHT 

AUTHOR    OF    "the    MASTEr's    QUESTIONS    TO    HIS    DISCIPLEs' 


NEW   YORK  :  A.   C.   ARMSTRONG  &  SON 

3  AND  5  WEST  I  8th  STREET 

LONDON:    HODDER    &    STOUGHTON 

1905 


UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LUIITED,  THE  GRESHAM  PRESS,  WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


PREFACE 

A  PART  from  strictly  devotional  books,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  practical  Christian 
literature  of  the  day  concerns  itself  rather  with 
the  outer  manifestations  of  the  Christian  life 
than  with  its  inner  experiences.  The  Christian 
as  he  moves  among  men  is  in  view,  rather  than 
the  Christian  as  he  is  alone  with  God. 

Books  of  this  class  are  invaluable  helps  to 
Christian  living,  and  can  hardly  be  multiplied 
too  much. 

But,  along  with  these,  there  may  be  some 
room  for  books  of  another  class,  books  dealing 
specially  with  the  inner  soul-experiences  which 
vitalise  the  life  that  is  seen. 

This  volume  is  meant  to  be  of  such  a  kind  : 
to  set  forth  in  some  degree  the  sacred  privilege 


vi  PREFACE 

of  secret  fellowship  with  God,  and  to  urge  the 
need  of  making  that  intercourse  with  Him  more 
frequent  and  more  prolonged. 

If  it  helps  any  reader  of  it  to  realise  more 
fully  the  joy  to  be  found  in  the  secret  place 
of  meditation  and  prayer,  its  purpose  will  be 
fulfilled. 

Garelochhead, 
1905. 


CONTENTS 


I 

PAGE 

THE  NEED  OF  BEIKG  OFTEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD      .    3 


II 

ALL    DOORS    THAT    OPEN    EARTHWAEDS    MUST    BE    SHUT 

WHEN    WE    ARE    ALONE    WITH    GOD  .  .       13 


III 
CHRIST    WILL    VISIT    US    WHEN     WE    PREPARE     TO     BE 


ALONE    WITH    HIM 


23 


IV 

THE    GREAT   DIVINE   EXAMPLE    OP    BEING    MUCH  ALONE 

WITH    GOD  .  .  .  .33 


viii  CONTENTS 

V 

PAGB 

WE   REACH    A   MOUNTAIN-TOP    OF   VISION    WHEN    ALONE 

WITH    GOD  .  .  .  .  .45 


VI 

WE      ESTIMATE       OURSELVES       ARIGHT      ONLY      WHEN 

ALONE     WITH     GOD  .55 


VII 

OUR   PERFECT   FREEDOM   OF   CONFESSION   WHEN 

ALONE  WITH  GOD       .       .       .       .67 


VIII 

THE  COMFORT  OF  CHRIST'S  SYMPATHY  FELT  WHEN 

WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD      .       .       .77 


IX 

THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  A  BROKEN  AND  CONTRITE 
HEART  REALISED  WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH 
GOD       .       .       .       .  .89 


CONTENTS  ix 


X 

PAGE 

A     BUKDENED     CONSCIENCE     SOONEST     GETS      RELIEF 

WHEN   ALONE   WITH   GOD  ....    101 


XI 

THE     TROUBLED     HEART    COMES    QUICKLY     TO    QUIET 

REST   WHEN   ALONE   WITH   GOD      .  .  .    113 


XII 

WE    RISE     INTO     FELLOWSHIP    WITH    THINGS    UNSEEN 

WHEN   ALONE   WITH   GOD  ....    125 


XIII 

WE   CAN    HEAR    MOST    DISTINCTLY    THE    WITNESS     OF 

THE   SPIRIT   WHEN    ALONE   WITH   GOD         .  .    137 


XIV 

WE     CAN     BEST     RENEW     OUR     STRENGTH    BY     BEING 

MUCH   ALONE   WITH   GOD    ....    149 


CONTENTS 


XV 

PAGE 

WE   AEE   LIFTED   EASILY   ABOVE    LIFE's    DISCOUEAGE- 

MENTS   WHEN   ALONE   WITH   GOD   .  .  .    161 


XVI 

WE        DISCOVER       THE       SOURCE  OP  ALL       POWER 

FOR      SERVICE      WHEN      WE  ARE  ALONE     WITH 

GOD               .                 .                 .  .  .                 .175 

XVII 

OUR    HOLIEST    ASPIRATIONS    ARE  INTENSIFIED    WHEN 

WE   ARE   ALONE   WITH    GOD  .  .                 .    187 


XVIII 

THE    BREAD    OF     LIFE     IS    SWEETEST    WHEN   WE   ARE 

ALONE   WITH    GOD  ....    197 


XIX 

ALL     SELFISH     FEELINGS     ARE     EXPELLED    WHEN     WE 

ARE    ALONE   WITH   GOD        ....    209 


CONTENTS  xi 

XX 

PEEP 
WHEN   WE    ARE   ALONE   WITH   GOD  .  .    221 


PAGE 
WE     KNOW    THE    JOY    OP     PERPECT    SELF-SURRENDER 


THE  NEED  OF  BEING  MUCH  ALONE 
WITH  GOD 


"  By  all  means  use  some  time  to  be  alone ; 
Salute  thj^self,  see  what  thy  soul  doth  wear." 

George  Herbert. 

"  When  first  thine  eyes  unveil,  give  thy  soul  leave 
To  do  the  like :  our  bodies  but  fore-run 
The  spirit's  duty.    True  hearts  spread  and  heave 
Unto  their  God,  as  flowers  do  to  the  sun. 
Give  Him  thy  first  thoughts  then,  so  shalt  thou  keep 
Him  company  all  day,  and  in  Him  sleep." 

Henry  Vaughan. 

"  Be  still,  my  soul,  be  still ! 

Something  that  ear  hath  never  heard. 
Something  unknown  to  any  song  of  bird, 
Something  unborne  by  wind,  or  wave,  or  star 
A  message  from  the  Fatherland  afar 
Comes  to  thee,  if  thou  art  but  still. " 

Anon. 


THE   NEED   OF   BEING   MUCH   ALONE 
WITH   GOD 

"I  TAS  secret  communion  with  God  come  to 
be  one  of  the  lost  arts  of  the  Church  ? 
Can  it  bo  the  case,  as  it  is  often  said  to  be, 
that  comparatively  few  who  name  the  Christian 
name,  spend  more  than  five  minutes  of  each 
day  alone  with  God  ?  If  so,  the  weakness,  and 
worldliness,  and  unf ruitfulness  of  the  professing 
Church  are  explained  at  once.  Our  forefathers 
knew  far  more  than  we  do  of  prolonged  com- 
munion with  God  in  the  secret  place  ;  and  there 
was  a  depth  in  their  religion  gained  thereby 
which  is  greatly  lacking  now.  No  doubt  their 
spiritual  life  was  in  some  sense  narrower  than 
ours.     It  was  more  self-centred  than  was  good 


4  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

for  them.  But  with  the  widening  of  the 
stream,  there  has  come  a  shallowing  of  it  too ; 
and  if  there  is  one  call  more  imperative  than 
another  for  every  Christian  ear  to  hear,  it  is 
the  call  "  back  to  prayer :  not  less  work,  but 
more  communion ;  not  less  activity  in  Christian 
effort,  but  more  secret  fellowship  with  God." 

We  live  in  a  busy  age.  Life  goes  on  at  high 
pressure.  From  early  morning  till  late  evening 
the  bewildering  whirl  of  the  world's  machinery 
never  stops.  Both  body  and  brain  are  exposed 
to  incessant  wear  and  tear.  The  necessary 
business  of  life  seems  to  claim  larger  time 
than  ever ;  and  the  passion  for  amusement 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  the  age  comes 
in  to  seize  upon  whatever  time  is  left  by 
graver  things ;  so  that,  between  business  on 
the  one  side  and  amusement  on  the  other, 
leisure  for  prayer  is  well-nigh  crushed  out. 
That  is  an  atmosphere  in  which  no  Christian 
can  possibly  thrive. 

But  even  really  earnest  men,  men  who  are 
not  living  for  the  world  or  for  themselves,  but 
for  God,  men  whose  energies  are   consecrated, 


ALONE  WITH   GOD  5 

whose  days  are  spent  in  sacred  devotion  to 
Christ,  who  find  their  joy  in  serving  Him  by 
serving  men — even  they  need  many  a  quiet 
hour  alone  with  God  if  their  power  for  ser- 
vice is  to  be  maintained.  When  Luther  was 
in  the  heat  of  his  great  conflict  with  Rome, 
and  hour  after  hour  was  filled  with  the 
laborious  work  of  preaching,  writing,  and  dis- 
puting for  the  truth,  he  said,  "  I  cannot  get 
on  without  three  hours  of  prayer  every  day." 
Even  for  the  more  secular  work  that  lies  to 
the  hand  of  most  of  us,  much  prayer  is 
needed  if  our  wisdom  and  our  strength  for 
that  work  are  not  to  fail.  That  noble  Christian 
soldier,  Havelock,  when  overwhelmed  with  the 
strenuous  labours  that  had  to  be  gone  through 
during  the  terrible  months  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  so  felt  the  absolute  need  of  much 
secret  prayer  that  he  made  it  his  rule  when 
he  had  to  march  at  eight  to  rise  at  six,  and 
when  he  had  to  march  at  six  to  rise  at  four, 
in  order  to  ensure  for  himself  at  least  one 
morning  hour  of  undisturbed  communion  with 
God    before   the   pressure   of    the   day's   duties 


6  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

began.  The  same  thing  was  seen  in  Living- 
stone when  pioneering  for  Christ  in  Central 
Africa.  His  private  journals  show  how  very- 
near  to  God  he  lived,  and  how  his  strength 
was  gained  by  dwelling  much  in  "  the  secret 
place  of  the  Most  High." 

It  was  a  distorted  apprehension  of  this  great 
truth  that  led  so  many  in  former  days  to 
retire  from  the  world  altogether,  and  live  as 
hermits  in  the  seclusion  of  mountain  caves. 
It  was  not  always  to  escape  the  persecutor's 
sword,  neither  was  it  always  to'  get  away 
from  the  horrible  corruptions  of  society  into 
a  purer  moral  atmosphere.  It  was  often  just 
to  have  more  undistracted  fellowship  with 
God  and  larger  leisure  for  meditation  upon 
things  divine.  The  method  was  a  mistaken 
one  and  seldom  served  its  end,  but  the  aim 
was  good. 

The  whole  tendency  of  modern  days,  how- 
ever, is  to  go  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
make  religion  almost  entirely  a  social  thing. 
The  dominant  note  of  the  Christian  life 
amongst    ourselves    is    the    social    one.      The 


ALONE  WITH   GOD  7 

great  difficulty  in  earlier  times  used  to  be  to 
get  men  to  be  earnest  enough  to  go  into  the 
world  and  sanctify  it.  Now  the  difficulty  is  to 
get  them  to  be  earnest  enough  to  go  aicay 
from  the  world  and  sanctify  themselves.  The 
religious  life  is  identified  with  public  gatherings, 
united  worship,  and  an  incessant  round  of 
activities  in  social  Christian  work  ;  and  it 
tends,  on  that  very  account,  to  be  greatly 
unfamiliar  with  secret  prayer,  and  private  fel- 
lowship with  God.  There  is  unquestionably  a 
danger  in  this,  for  ceaseless  activity  for  others 
may  weaken  the  spiritual  life  within  ourselves, 
and  force  from  us  ere  long  the  sad  confession, 
"  I  have  kept  the  vineyards  of  others,  but  mine 
own  vineyard  I  have  not  kept."  For  stirring 
great  enthusiasms  we  need  the  inspiration  of 
the  crowd ;  Christ's  Gospel  has  always  won  its 
noblest  triumphs  in  social  revivals :  but  for 
the  deepening  and  confirming  of  holy  prin- 
ciples within  us  we  need  the  seclusion  of  the 
"secret  place."  The  trees  in  a  forest  grow 
tall  but  thin.  They  shoot  up  quickly  through 
mutual  support ;   but  take   away  from   any  of 


8  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

them  the  shelter  of  its  neighbouring  trees,  and, 
at  the  first  blast  of  a  hurricane  it  will  fall.  It 
is  not  there,  but  on  some  bare  hillside  where 
it  has  long  battled  with  every  wind  that 
you  must  look  for  the  tree  that  no  storm  can 
dislodge,  that  will  outlast  the  shock  of  a 
hundred  winter  gales. 

It  can  be  no  otherwise  with  ourselves.  We 
may  be  planted  in  the  kingdom  with  a  mul- 
titude, but  only  in  secret,  lonely,  personal 
fellowship  with  God  can  we  really  grow  into 
the  strength  of  "trees  of  righteousness"  for 
Him. 

What  we  need  above  all  things  in  these 
crowded  days  is  the  setting  apart  of  many 
listening  times ;  times  of  quiet  in  which  we 
can  hear  the  heavenly  voices  that  call  to  us 
unregarded  in  the  busy  day.  The  great  clock- 
bell  of  St.  Paul's  is  not  heard  even  a  few 
streets  off  in  the  roar  of  traffic  all  day  long ; 
but  it  can  be  heard  over  half  the  metropolis 
in  the  silence  of  the  night.  One  reason  why 
God  so  often  spoke  to  His  servants  in  the 
night  was  that  all  was  quiet  then.     That,  too, 


ALONE  WITH  GOD  9 

was  one  reason  why  so  many  of  them  were 
sent  away  into  desert  solitudes  that  they 
might  hear  what  He  had  to  say.  It  may  be 
one  reason  why  sickness  and  sorrow  are  sent 
so  frequently  into  our  careless  lives.  God  has 
something  to  say  to  us  which,  in  the  whirl  of 
our  earthly  ambitions,  we  cannot  hear :  and 
He  makes  the  noises  of  the  outer  world  to 
cease  that  He  may  speak  to  the  soul.  Some- 
times He  "  tries  us  in  the  night,"  sometimes 
He  ^' giveth  songs  in  the  night,"  sometimes 
He  '^instructs  us  in  the  night,"  sometimes  He 
gives  us  "a  vision  in  the  night " :  but  all  of 
these  we  will  utterly  miss  if  there  is  no  quiet 
time  in  which  He  can  come  very  near  to  us, 
and  we  can  come  very  near  to  Him.  There 
are  many  ways  of  preparing  to  receive  blessing 
from  on  high ;  but  one  of  the  most  essential 
is  this,  "Commune  with  your  own  heart,  and 
be  still." 


ALL  DOORS  THAT  OPEN  EARTHWARD 
MUST  BE  SHUT  WHEN  WE  ARE 
ALONE    WITH    GOD 


"  Serve  God  before  the  world :   let  Him  not  go 
Until  thou  hast  a  blessing ;    then  resign 
The  whole  unto  Him,  and  remember  who 

Prevailed  by  wrestling  ere  the  sun  did  shine. 
Bise  to  prevent  the  day.  Sleep  doth  sins  glut, 
And  heaven's  door  opens  when  the  world's  is  shut." 

Heney  Vaughan. 

"  Sum  up  at  night  what  thou  hast  done  by  day ; 
Dress  and  undress  thy  soul,  mark  the  decay 
And  growth  of  it :   if,  with  thy  watch,  that  too 
Be  down,  then  wind  up  both.     Since  we  shall  be 
Most  surely  judged,  make  thy  accounts  agree." 

George  Heebert. 


II 


ALL  DOORS  THAT  OPEN  EARTHWARD 
MUST  BE  SHUT  WHEN  WE  ARE 
ALONE    WITH    GOD 

"  npHE  doors  being  shut."  There  is  more  in 
this  simple  phrase  than  meets  the  eye. 
It  teUs  how  the  Risen  One  suddenly  stood  in 
the  midst  of  His  disciples  in  the  fast-closed 
upper  room  on  the  evening  of  the  Resurrection 
day,  and,  in  so  far,  it  is  the  record  of  a  miracle. 
But  it  also  contains  a  fine  suggestion  of  a  great 
spiritual  truth ;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  it 
is  to  John,  the  most  spiritual  of  the  Evan- 
gelists, that  we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge 
of  the  fact.  The  other  Evangelists  say  only 
that  the  disciples  were  gathered  in  an  upper 
room ;    but   John   adds   the   significant  remark 

13 


14  THE   DOORS  BEING  SHUT 

that  "the  doors  were  shut  for  fear  of  the 
Jews."  They  were  not  merely  a  secluded  but 
a  trembling  company.  Do  what  they  could, 
try  to  believe  as  they  might,  they  could  not 
rise  into  the  joy  of  the  Resurrection.  But  the 
Risen  One  Himself  came  noiselessly  and  mys- 
teriously into  their  midst  with  His  words  of 
peace.  The  same  divine  Lord  who  had  come 
out  of  the  grave  in  spite  of  the  sealed  stone, 
came  into  the  upper  room  in  spite  of  the 
closed  doors,  for  no  earthly  barriers  could 
hinder  the  perfect  freedom  of  His  glorified 
Resurrection  life ;  and  His  greeting  to  them 
brought  a  gladness  with  it  they  had  never 
known  before. 

But  do  not  all  His  best  visits  to  the  soul 
take  place  only  when,  in  a  true,  deep  sense, 
the  doors  are  shut?  We  need  shut  doors  for 
our  holiest  intercourse  with  Him.  He  needs 
shut  doors  for  His  most  comforting  messages 
to  us.  The  "  still  small  voice "  can  be  heard 
distinctly  only  when  the  noise  of  the  world's 
voices  is  shut  out,  and  we  are  as  in  a  "secret 
place   of   the  Most  High."     Was  it  not  on  this 


THE   DOORS  BEING  SHUT  15 

very  account  that  the  Lord,  when  giving  a  rule 
for  prayer-intercourse  with  God,  laid  such  em- 
phasis on  the  seclusion  and  privacy  of  it? 
"  Enter  into  thy  chamber,  and  ivhen  thou  hast 
shut  the  dooi%  pray  to  thy  Father  who  seeth 
in  secret."  "  Let  there  be  no  ostentation  in 
your  praying,"  He  says  ;  but  He  means  more 
than  that,  "  let  there  be  no  hurry  either,  and 
no  distraction  of  soul ;  have  a  quiet  place  and 
a  quiet  time  for  prayer,  but  above  all  have  a 
quiet  heart." 

No  doubt  there  may  be  very  sweet  moments 
of  prayer  where  there  is  no  secret  chamber 
with  shut  door,  and  no  outward  quiet  either. 
Nehemiah  could  lift  up  his  heart  in  prayer  and 
get  an  immediate  answer  too,  even  while 
standing  as  cupbearer  before  the  king,  and 
carrying  on  a  conversation  with  him  all  the 
time.  So  may  the  busiest  of  busy  men  in  the 
very  midst  of  their  engrossing  work,  or  when 
walking  the  crowded  street — the  tradesman 
amid  the  duties  of  shop  or  mill — hard-working 
mothers  amid  all  the  distractions  of  their 
children's    crics' — the    traveller  amid    the   noisy 


16  THE  DOORS  BEING  SHUT 

jolting  of  the  railway  train — all  practise  the 
art  of  sending  glances  and  petitions  upwards 
to  the  Throne  on  high,  and  know  the  comfort 
of  getting  immediate  answers  back  that  will 
make  them  calmer,  wiser,  braver  than  they 
were  before.  How  strengthening  such  way- 
side prayers  may  be  none  know  till  they  have 
practised  them.  But  if  we  are  to  know  the 
full  joy  of  intercourse  with  God,  we  must  make 
definite  room  for  it  outside  of  the  busy  current 
of  life,  and  set  apart  for  it  conscientiously 
some  quiet  time,  even  though  that  should 
need  to  be  stolen  from  the  morning  slumber 
or  the  evening  rest. 

"  Shut  thy  chamber-door,"  said  Jesus  when 
rebuking  ostentation  in  prayer ;  and  a  literal 
obedience  to  that  command  may  often  be 
needed  even  yet :  for  the  ostentation  of  the 
Pharisee  who  prayed  at  the  corners  of  the 
street  "to  be  seen  of  men "  may  be  imitated 
to-day  by  those  who  pray  in  their  own 
chambers,  but  leave  open  the  chamber-door 
on  the  chance  that  some  one  may  come  in 
and  find  them  on  their  knees,  and  think  what 


THE  DOORS  BEING  SHUT  17 

good  Christians  they  are — thus  making  a  real 
parade  of  their  devotion  even  while  professing 
to  conceal  it!  But  the  Lord's  command  goes 
farther  than  this.  "Shut  the  door  of  thy 
heart"  He  says,  for  the  heart-door  may  be 
left  open  to  all  the  distractions  and  dis- 
turbances of  earth,  even  though  the  room-door 
is  closed.  Many  a  Christian  knows,  from  sad 
experience,  that  this  is  so.  He  is  never  so 
haunted  by  worldly  cares  and  frivolous 
thoughts  as  when  bending  the  knee  in  secret 
prayer.  Not  only  the  worries  but  the  veriest 
vanities  of  life  come  crowding  in  just  when 
he  would  seek  to  be  alone  with  God.  "  Shut 
thy  heart's  door"  therefore,  and  keep  the  world 
out.  A  wind-tossed  lake  gives  no  reflection  of 
the  sky.  We  need  to  arrest  all  worldly  things 
that  would  claim  admission  to  the  soul,  and 
say  to  them  as  Abraham  said  to  his  servants 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Moriah,  "Abide  ye  here 
while  I  go  yonder  to  worship."  "  Shut  the  door 
of  the  heart,"  and  keep  unbelief  out.  Do  not 
allow  the   secret  misgiving   that  your   prayers 

will    not    be   of    any  use.     God's   answers   are 

3 


18  THE  DOORS  BEING  SHUT 

given  only  to  a  perfect  trust.  "  Shut  the 
door  of  thy  heart,"  and  keep  formality  out. 
Mechanical  devotion  does  no  man  any  good. 
To  pray  just  to  satisfy  conscience  because  the 
set  time  for  prayer  has  come  and  we  must 
get  through  with  the  duty,  is  not  only  an 
attempt  to  impose  upon  God,  it  is  practising 
a  tremendous  deceit  upon  ourselves.  "  Shut 
the  door  of  thy  heart,"  and  keep  ijnpenitence 
out,  for  the  heart  may  be  really  clinging  to 
the  very  sin  the  lips  are  praying  against. 
The  only  prayer  that  tells  with  God  is  the 
prayer  that  is  absolutely  guileless  and  sincere. 
"If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart  the  Lord 
will  not  hear  me."  "Shut  the  door  of  thy 
heart,"  and  keep  self-icill  out.  To  ask  God  to 
ratify  our  own  foregone  determinations,  or  to 
fall  in  with  our  own  desires,  is  not  to  pray 
but  to  dictate  to  Him.  The  undertone  of 
every  prayer  must  be,  "not  my  will,  but 
Thine  be  done."  It  may  seem  as  if  this  must 
greatly  limit  the  range  of  prayer,  and  even 
rob  it  of  its  charm  as  a  practical  help  in  life ; 
but  if  we  ask,  and  receive  through  asking,  all 


THE   DOORS   BEING   SHUT  19 

it  is    His   loving  will   to   give,   can   we   either 
wish  or  get  a  larger  blessing  than  that? 

There  is  thus  to  be  a  great  shutting  out,  as 
well  as  a  shutting  in ;  but  when  the  heart-door 
is  firmly  closed  against  all  disturbances  such 
as  these,  prayer-fellowship  with  the  Lord  will 
be  one  of  our  intensest  joys  :  for  the  old  ex- 
perience of  the  Resurrection  evening  will  be 
repeated  again  and  again,  "  then  came  Jesus, 
the  doors  being  shut,  and  said,  Peace  be  unto 
you." 


CHRIST     WILL     VISIT     US     WHEN     WE 
PREPARE  TO   BE  ALONE  WITH  HIM 


"  0  Saviour  I  who,  from  earth's  conflicting  voices, 
Art  calling  me  to  Thy  seclusion  sweet ; 
Give  me  a  heart  that,  still  and  calm,  rejoices 
To  sit,  with  Mary,  at  Thy  blessed  feet. 

For  marvels  of  this  secret  place  are  known 
To  him  who  in  it  dwells  with  Thee,  alone." 

Teksteegen. 


Ill 


CHRIST    WILL     VISIT     US     WHEN      WE 
PREPARE  TO  BE  ALONE  WITH  HIM 

~1  TE  often  comes  to  us  unsought,  and  un- 
-' — ■-  invited,  surprising  us  with  some  word 
of  peace  when  we  are  not  expecting  it.  Even 
in  the  busiest  moments  of  the  day,  in  the 
throng  and  rush  of  troubhng  cares,  He  some- 
times sends  messages  to  the  heart  that  are 
gladly  recognised  as  His,  and  do  much  to 
sustain  and  cheer  us.  But  is  it  not  true  of 
this  Heavenly  Friend,  as  it  is  true  of  many 
an  earthly  one,  that  He  likes  to  be  asked  to 
visit  us,  and  will  sometimes  wait  for  an  invi- 
tation before  He  comes.  If  we  want  His 
presence  with  us,  do  we  not  need  to  prepare 
for  receiving  Him  ?     Our  hearts  are  often  very 

23 


24  HEAVENLY  VISITS 

Bethlehems  ;  there  is  a  great  crowd,  and  "  No 
room  for  Him  in  the  inn  " :  and  He  may  some- 
times, therefore,  say  in  regard  to  His  coming 
into  the  heart,  "But  withal  prepare  Me  a 
lodging."  The  goodness  which  He  has  pre- 
pared for  us  He  gives  us  only  when  He  finds 
us  preparing  to  receive  it ;  and  there  is  no  place 
for  that  like  the  place  of  secret  prayer. 

But  can  any  man  really  expect  such  visits 
from  the  Lord  ?  Assuredly,  if  His  own  words 
are  true,  "If  a  man  love  Me  ...  I  will  love 
him,  and  will  manifest  Myself  to  him,"  "and 
My  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come 
unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 
On  reading  such  words  we  might  well  be 
overwhelmed  with  surprise — the  promise  seems 
too  great  to  be  ever  fulfilled  !  But  very  beau- 
tifully does  the  Lord  lead  up  to  His  marvellous 
conclusion.  First,  He  says,  "  I  will  love  him " : 
but  that  might  be  only  silent  love,  love  really 
felt  but  unconfessed,  and  that  would  not  satisfy 
us — nor  does  it  satisfy  Himself.  For  next.  He 
says,  "I  will  manifest  Myself  to  Him."  Still, 
even    that   might  be    only    at    a    distance,    or 


HEAVENLY  VISITS  25 

through  the  medium  of  something  else.  So 
He  adds,  "  We  will  come  to  him  "  ;  and  even 
that  is  not  all,  "  We  will  make  our  abode  with 
him."  That  is  not  simply  coming  near,  it  is 
coming  in ;  not  only  coming  to  visit,  but 
coming  to  stay. 

Now,  do  we  ever  think  what  it  would  be  to 
have  such  a  promise  fulfilled  to  us  in  a  literal 
and  outward  way ;  what  it  would  mean  to  us 
if  He  should  even  for  one  day  return  to  earth, 
and,  in  the  same  way  as  He  used  to  frequent 
some  earthly  homes  of  old,  should  abide  in 
ours?  What  would  it  be  to  have  the  Lord 
Jesus  spending  even  one  day  beneath  our  roof, 
or  talking  to  us  even  for  one  evening  in  the 
quiet  family  circle,  consenting  to  be  treated  as 
our  guest? 

Does  the  thought  ever  occur  to  us,  "  What 
a  home  mine  would  be,  if  Christ  were  actually 
dwelling  in  it  for  a  single  week,  going  out 
and  in,  interesting  Himself  in  all  my  concerns, 
sympathising  both  with  my  sorrows  and  with 
my  joys,  speaking  to  me  of  how  I  am  living 
my  life  in  the  world  here,  directing  me  in  all  my 


26  HEAVENLY  VISITS 

difficulties,  speaking  to  me,  too,  of  things  trans- 
cending this  poor  life  altogether,  telling  me  of 
the  heavenly  life  for  which  He  is  preparing 
me,  and  bidding  me  be  of  good  cheer  !  What 
an  atmosphere  of  heaven  would  pervade  that 
home  of  mine !  What  holy  strength  would 
come  to  me  from  that  Divine  companionship  ! 
What  virtue  would  go  out  from  Him  to  me  ! 
What  peace  His  presence  there  would  bring, 
and  what  holiness  too  !  How  heavenly-minded 
I  would  become !  How  radiant  with  a  reflec- 
tion of  His  sanctity  !  What  a  complete  arrest 
His  presence  there  would  put  upon  every  kind 
of  sin  !  What  a  hushing  there  would  be  of  all 
those  tones  of  anger,  irritation,  selfishness, 
uncharitableness,  that  are  so  often  heard  from 
my  lips  !  That  home  of  mine  would  be,  for  the 
time,  a  miniature  of  heaven." 

Do  we  ever  think  of  all  this?  Then  how 
wonderful  the  thought  that  something  even 
better  than  all  this  would  be  is  actually 
promised  by  Himself  to  all  that  "  love  Him " ! 
and  that  better  thing  is  to  have  Him  in  all 
the  graciousness  and  power  of  His  own  glorious 


HEAVENLY  VISITS  27 

life,  not  merely  an  outward  Visitant  but  an 
inward  Resident,  a  Guest  not  merely  in  the 
home,  but  in  the  soul  itself. 

Did  not  Paul  understand  this  well  when 
he  prayed  for  the  Ephesians  "  that  Christ 
might  dwell  in  their  hearts  by  faith"?  This 
is  much  more  than  merely  "  thinking  about 
Christ,"  more  than  '*  imitating  Christ,"  more 
than  "following  Christ,"  more  than  hanging 
up  the  portrait  of  Christ  and  looking  at  it. 
We  hang  some  portrait  of  an  absent  one  who 
is  dear  upon  the  wall  of  our  room.  Friends 
see  it,  and  say,  "  What  a  speaking  likeness 
that  is  ! "  We  know  what  they  mean,  but  we 
say  to  ourselves,  "  Alas  !  no,  that  is  just  what 
it  cannot  do — it  cannot  talk  to  me,  it  cannot 
advise  me,  it  cannot  comfort  me :  oh  that 
these  lips  had  language,"  but  they  are  silent 
lips,  the  picture  is  a  beautiful  reminiscence, 
but  that  is  all. 

What  Paul  meant  was  not  that  we  should 
just  have  our  Christ  in  the  Bible,  like  a  por- 
trait hung  up  before  our  eyes,  but  that  we 
should  have  Christ  in  the  heart,  like  a  Friend 


28  HEAVENLY  VISITS 

whose  living  presence  is  in  the  home,  a  Friend 
accessible  as  counsellor  and  comforter  every 
moment,  a  Friend  to  whom  every  doubt  or 
sorrow  or  care  can  be  freely  opened  out,  and 
who  will  always  speak  to  us  His  words  of 
wisdom  and  of  love. 

"Master,  where  dwellest  Thou?"  said  the 
first  two  disciples  as  they  followed  Jesus  in 
the  way.  He  answered  them,  "  Gome  and  see." 
Now,  He  has  no  earthly  home  except  His 
disciples'  hearts ;  and  yet  there  are  some  of 
these  hearts  that  have  Him  so  constantly 
within  them  that  if  the  same  question  were 
asked  Him  to-day.  He  might  take  the  ques- 
tioner round  to  one  after  another  of  these 
disciples  and  say,  "Come  here  and  see." 

Would  that  all  disciples  were  such  as  these! 
How  is  it  that  we  know  so  little  of  this  blessed 
and  intimate  companionship  with  Christ? 
Simply  because  we  so  easily  open  the  heart 
to  all  intruders,  that  "  there  is  no  room  in 
the  inn,"  and  the  Holy  Christ  goes  away. 
Soon,  perhaps,  in  penitence  and  shame  we 
awake    to    our    folly    in     thus    banishing    our 


HEAVENLY  VISITS  29 

Lord :  we  drive  the  intruders  out,  and  cry  to 
Him  to  return.  He  does  return ;  but  very 
speedily  some  fresh  indignity  put  upon  Him 
banishes  Him  again  !  And  so  the  days  go  on, 
and  the  weeks  too.  He  is  never  allowed 
thoroughly  to  occupy  the  place  within  us 
which  we  invite  Him  to  fill ;  and  His  flying 
visits  do  not  leave  behind  them  any  permanent 
fruit  of  holiness  or  of  peace  :  He  does  not  find 
the  heart  prepared  for  His  coming,  and  does  not 
get  such  a  welcome  as  will  induce  Him  to  stay. 

The  leading  idea  of  preparation  for  receiving 
a  guest  is  anticipatory  thoughtfulness,  a  con- 
sideration of  what  would  please  him  when  he 
comes.  We  fill  his  room  with  many  small 
tokens  of  our  wish  that,  in  it,  he  should  really 
feel  at  home.  Do  we  ever  so  anticipate  a  visit 
from  our  Lord,  and  make  the  heart-room 
ready  for  Him  before  He  comes  ?  Do  we  ever 
feel  as  Moses  felt  when  he  said,  "He  is  my 
God  and  I  will  prepare  Him  a  habitation "  ? 
Perhaps  we  do :  but  even  then  we  are  con- 
fronted with  two  great  obstacles — first,  our 
conscious  unworthiness   to  receive  the  Lord  at 


30  HEAVENLY  VISITS 

all,  and  next,  our  felt  incompetence  so  to  purify 
the  house  that  it  shall  be  worthy  to  receive 
Him.  We  are  therefore  forced  to  take  refuge 
in  the  paradox,  that  the  Lord  Himself  must  do 
in  us  what  He  asks  us  to  do  and  what  we  are 
unable  to  do.  We  are  to  cleanse  the  heart  for 
Christ  to  dwell  in  it,  and  yet  it  is  just  His 
own  coming  into  it  that  alone  can  cleanse  it 
thoroughly.  If  He  comes  to  us  at  all  He  must 
come  to  us,  unworthy  of  His  presence  as  we 
are ;  and  then  what  our  own  power  cannot 
do.  His  power  working  in  us  will  speedily  do. 
Our  prayer  must  therefore  be,  "  Lord,  take 
my  heart  and  cleanse  it,  for  I  cannot  cleanse 
it  myself ;  keep  it  Thyself,  for  I  cannot  keep  it 
for  Thee."  And  He  will  answer  the  prayer. 
He  will  bring  these  poor  sinful  hearts  of  ours 
into  such  close  fellowship  with  Himself  that 
His  holy  nature  will  be  transfused  into  ours  ; 
moment  by  moment  we  shall  become  larger 
sharers  in  His  victory  and  His  peace  :  and  the 
hearts  in  which  He  dwells  will  become  living 
temples,  full  of  "  thanksgiving  and  the  voice  of 
melody." 


THE    GREAT    DIVINE    EXAMPLE    OF 
BEING  MUCH  ALONE  WITH  GOD 


■  Sweet  is  the  hour  of  secret  prayer, 
Sweet,  with  the  hush  of  falUng  eve 
To  bend  the  knee  with  reverent  air, 
And  words  to  the  Unseen  to  weave. 
How  burns  the  fragrant  incense  poured 
In  quiet  haunts  at  close  of  day 
From  loving  hearts  that,  lilve  their  Lord, 
Steal  from  the  world  to  pause  and  pray  ! " 

C.  L.  Ford. 


IT- 

THE    GREAT    DIVINE    EXAMPLE    OF 
BEING  MUCH  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

rpiHERE  had  been  a  great  festal  gathering 
in  Jerusalem.  Multitudes  had  come  to  it 
from  all  parts  of  the  land ;  and  Jesus  had  come 
to  it  from  Galilee.  It  was  almost  over.  The 
Temple  courts  were  emptying.  The  crowds 
that  had  been  living  for  a  week  past  in  booths 
on  the  house-roofs  were  all  dispersing  to  their 
homes,  and  the  lonely  Stranger  whose  voice 
had  thrilled  so  many,  and  startled  some,  and 
angered  others,  had  also  to  go  away,  for 
nowhere  in  all  that  city  had  a  resting-place 
been  provided  for  Him.  "Every  man  went 
to  his  own  home:  Jesus  went  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives." 
How  full  of  pathos  these  few  simple  words ! 

4  33 


34  CHRIST  IN  PRAYER 

We  picture  Him  slowly,  silently  wending  His 
way  through  the  crowd  as  the  evening 
shadows  fall,  and  overhearing,  as  He  goes, 
remarks  passing  from  lip  to  lip  about  Him 
— some  of  them  appreciative  and  kind,  some 
indifferent,  some  contemptuous,  and  some  full 
of  hate.  We  see  the  crowd  slowly  thinning 
as  street  after  street  is  passed ;  one  door  after 
another  opening  to  receive  the  inmates  of 
the  various  homes ;  we  think  of  the  com- 
panies reassembling  within  them  for  the 
evening  meal  and  interchange  of  talk :  and 
then  we  think  of  that  lonely  Stranger  still 
passing  on,  no  friendly  door  opened  for  Him, 
no  voice  of  welcome  inviting  Him — passing  on 
and  out  by  the  city  gate,  and  up  the  long 
slope  of  the  olive-shaded  hill  to  find  His 
resting-place  beneath  the   stars. 

The  homeless  Man  of  Sorrows  had  no  private 
prayer-chamber  whose  door  He  might  shut  to 
talk  with  God.  No  man  offered  Him  a  place 
where  He  might  lay  His  head.  Well,  He  would 
lay  it  down  beneath  His  Father's  trees,  upon 
His   Father's   breast. 


CHRIST  IN  PRAYER  35 

But  this  was  no  exceptional  thing  with 
Him.  It  was  His  habitual  practice  all  along, 
even  though  some  friendly  home  was  willing  to 
shelter  Him.  Again  and  again  in  the  Gospel 
story  we  read  such  words  as  these :  "  He  with- 
drew Himself  into  the  wilderness  and  prayed  "  ; 
"Rising  up  a  great  while  before  day,  He 
departed  into  a  solitary  place,  and  there 
prayed  " ;  and  what  strikes  us  with  surprise  is 
to  find  that  frequently  such  a  night  of  solitary 
prayer  came  in  between  two  days  each  of 
which  was  so  filled  with  labours  of  love  for 
others  that  He  had  scarce  one  hour  in  them 
to  call  His  own,  and  "  no  leisure  so  much  as 
to   eat." 

Two  very  significant  facts,  when  brought  into 
connection  with  this,  throw  a  wonderful  light 
upon  these  secret  hours  of  His. 

One  of  these  facts  is  that  He  was  never 
for  one  moment  of  any  day  out  of  touch  with 
God.  We  are  constantly  getting  out  of  touch 
with  God.  The  business  and  the  cares  of  the 
world  together  come  sadly  in  between  us  and 
God,   and  we  need  quiet  seasons  of  retirement 


36  CHRIST  IN  PRAYER 

to  bring  us  into  touch  with  Him  again.  But 
Jesus  always  lived  in  the  closest  fellowship 
with  the  Father.  He  could  speak  of  Himself  as 
the  "Son  of  Man  who  is  in  heaven."  He  was 
speaking  and  listening  to  the  Father  all  day 
long,  and  yet  He  who  was  in  such  constant 
touch  with  God  felt  the  need,  as  well  as  the 
joy,  of  more  prolonged  and  more  quiet  com- 
munion with  Him. 

The  other  fact  is,  that  most  of  the  reasons 
that  drive  us  to  prayer  could  never  have 
driven  Him.  He  had  no  sins  to  confess,  no 
mistakes  to  regret,  no  pardons  to  seek,  no 
defeats  in  a  struggle  with  inborn  corruption 
to  lament,  no  infirmities  of  temper  to  deplore, 
not  even  a  momentary  forgetfulness  of  His 
Father's  will  to  repent  of  at  His  feet.  Indeed, 
we  owe  our  salvation  to  the  fact  that,  living  in 
our  own  nature,  in  the  midst  of  our  own  temp- 
tations. He  alone  of  men  could  pray  without 
repentance,  without  the  confession  of  a  single 
sin,  without  either  needing  forgiveness  or 
asking  to  be  forgiven. 

And  yet  He  needed  prayer.     He  loved  it,  but 


CHRIST  IN  PRAYER  37 

He  needed  it  too ;  needed  it,  just  as  we  need  it 
ourselves,  not  only  to  refresh  His  soul  after 
the  disappointments  of  the  day,  but  to  nerve 
it  for  fresh  labours  sure  to  involve  fresh  pain 
on  the  day  that  was  coming. 

In  a  natural  fear  of  lowering  the  Divine 
dignity  of  Christ  we  often  forget  His  true 
humanity.  We  think  of  His  earthly  life  as 
moving  on  a  plane  so  different  from  ours 
that  no  parallel  can  be  drawn  between  them. 
We  find  it  difficult  to  think  of  Him  as  feeling 
in  the  various  experiences  of  life  anything  like 
what  we  feel  in  the  same  ;  and  if  any  striking 
instance  of  superiority  in  Him  to  our  customary 
weaknesses  presents  itself,  we  account  for  it  by 
referring  it  to  His  Divine  nature;  and  having 
accounted  for  it  thus,  we  give  up  all  idea  of 
attempting  to  resemble  Him.  What  we  forget 
is  that  He  too  needed  to  walk  by  faith,  needed 
to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  needed  to  be 
lifted  above  natural  discouragements,  needed 
the  sympathy  of  loving  friends,  needed  the 
strengthening  that  is  gained  in  private  prayer. 
His  strong  and  beautiful,  serene  and  holy  life 


38  CHRIST  IN  PRAYER 

so  fills  the  eye,  that  we  lose  sight  of  His 
secret  intercourse  with  the  Father,  out  of  which 
came  all  its  beauty  and  all  its  power. 

For  they  were  no  mere  formal  acts,  these 
prayers  of  His.  He  was  not  just  giving  His 
countenance  to  a  pious  practice  needed  by  us, 
but  not  needed  by  Himself.  They  were  7^eal 
prayers.  If  they  were  not  so,  if  they  did  not 
spring  out  of  a  real  feeling  of  need,  if  they 
were  not  prayers  of  dependence  and  of  faith, 
they  could  be  no  examples  to  us.  They  would 
even  have  been  misleading  examples,  teaching 
that  the  value  of  prayer  consists  merely  in 
the  length  of  time  consumed  by  it.  But  He 
was  7'eally  praying,  and  not  apparently  only, 
when  alone  with  the  Father.  He  prayed  for 
others,  but  He  prayed  also  for  Himself ;  for 
He  was  not  half  human  and  half  Divine,  but 
wholly  human  though  wholly  Divine,  com- 
passed with  all  our  human  infirmities,  and 
subject  to  our  weaknesses  as  well ;  and  there- 
fore He  needed  prayer,  needed  it  to  strengthen 
Him,  and  needed  it  to  keep  Him  calm. 

Even   to   "  the   Lord   of    Glory "   prayer  was 


CHRIST  IN  PRAYER  39 

as  the  vital  breath.  He  lived  in  the  atmo- 
sphere of  prayer  from  first  to  last ;  and 
when  any  specially  important  work  had  to  be 
done,  any  specially  difficult  crisis  had  to  be 
faced,  any  specially  trying  experience  had  to 
be   endured,  He   met   it   by  special   prayer. 

At  His  baptism  He  prayed.  At  the  choos- 
ing of  the  twelve  Apostles  He  prayed.  Before 
doing  many  of  His  mighty  works  He  prayed, 
and  He  prayed  also  after  they  were  done.  At 
His  transfiguration  He  prayed.  It  came  to 
Him  in  the  very  act  of  prayer.  At  the  grave 
of  Lazarus  He  prayed.  When  the  popular 
enthusiasm  was  eager  to  make  Him  a  worldly 
King  He  prayed.  He  prayed  when  the 
enthusiasm  cooled,  and  rejection  came.  With 
prayer  He  entered  on  the  day  of  His  last 
sufferings.  With  prayer  He  agonised  in  dark 
Gethsemane.  With  prayer  He  cast  His  mur- 
derers upon  the  mercy  He  knew  to  be  in  the 
Father's  heart.  With  prayer  He  looked  up  for 
support  in  the  darkness  of  desertion  on  the 
Cross.  In  prayer  He  breathed  out  His  Spirit 
into  the  Father's  hands.     If  He  needed  prayer 


40  CHRIST  IN  PRAYER 

so    constant,    so    filial,    so   dependent    as    this, 
how  infinitely  more   do   we ! 

There  are  mysteries  in  prayer  that  we  cannot 
solve :  but  even  though  it  were  a  greater 
mystery  than  it  is,  how  the  prayer  of  man  can 
affect  the  heart  and  hand  of  God,  how  He  who 
governs  the  universe  by  strict  laws  can  interpose 
to  help  His  children  who  are  enveloped  in  these 
laws,  we  can  face  it  calmly  as  we  look  upon 
the  Man  Christ  Jesus  pouring  out  His  soul 
in  '•  strong  crying  and  tears."  It  answers  a 
thousand  difficulties  just  to  see  the  Saviour 
on  His  knees — for  He  knew  all  the  laws  of 
the  universe  better  than  the  wisest  philosopher 
can  do,  and  He  would  not  have  cried  to  God 
for  help  if  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  answer 
such  a  cry.  Jesus  on  His  knees  shows  us 
that  we  are  not  helplessly  enclosed  in  an 
iron  network  of  natural  laws  preventing  any 
succour  in  a  time  of  need.  Perplexities  some- 
how vanish,  and  courageous  hope  comes  in, 
the  moment  that  we  think  of  Him  thus 
pleading  trustfully  with  a  Father  who  is  in 
heaven.     Perhaps,   after  all,    the    best    answer 


CHRIST  IN  PRAYER  41 

to  the  question,  "Why  should  I  pray  so 
much  ? "  is  this — "  Because  Jesus  did."  He 
who  was  "in  all  things  made  like  unto  His 
brethren"  would  have  His  brethren  in  all 
things  made  like  to  Him.  As  He  was,  so 
must  we  be  in  the  world,  and,  characteristi- 
cally, men  of  prayer.  The  praying  Christian 
alone  is  the  overcoming  Christian,  the  holy 
Christian,  the  shining  Christian,  the  Christian 
whose  life  is  one  long  service  of  the  Master, 
and  whose  heart    is   filled  with    the    Master's 

joy- 


WE  REACH  A  MOUNTAIN-TOP  OF  VISION 
WHEN  ALONE   WITH   GOD 


"  Master,  where  abidest  Thou  ? 
"We  would  leave  the  past  behind, 
We  would  scale  the  mountain's  brow, 
Learning  more  Thy  heavenly  mind. 
Canst  Thou  take  our  sins  away  ? 
May  we  find  repose  in  Thee  ? 
From  Thy  gracious  lips  to-day 
As  of  old  breathes  '  Come  and  see.' " 

The  Theee  Wakings. 

"  Allured  up  to  the  mountain-top,  with  God  alone,  apart, 
There  Spirit  meeteth  spu'it,  there  speaketh  Heart  to  heart 
There  God  and  I — none  other;  His  secret  place  I  find 
A  home  of  isolation  sweet,  all  trouble  left  behind." 

Terstbegen, 


WE  REACH  A  MOUNTAIN-TOP  OF  VISION 
WHEN  ALONE   WITH   GOD 

r  I  iHERE  seems  to  be  a  rich  suggestiveness 
in  the  fact  that  Jesus  so  often  chose 
not  merely  a  lonely  but  a  lofty  place  for  His 
fellowship  with  God.  He  seemed  to  love  the 
7nountain  solitude  as  a  place  of  prayer.  Did 
He,  the  Great  Lord,  feel  as  we  sometimes  do, 
the  mysterious  power  of  altitude,  as  well  as 
solitude,  drawing  Him  nearer  to  heaven?  He 
was  "  in  all  things  made  like  unto  His  brethren  " 
— was  this  one  of  them? 

Some  can  remember  times  when  strange  and 
glad  upliftings  of  soul  were  felt  on  the  summit 
of  a  lofty  hill,  where  they  sat  looking  out  with 
hushed    soul    upon    God's    majestic    peaks,   all 

45 


46  THE  MOUNTAIN- VISION 

glistening  white  with  the  purity  of  untrodden 
Alpine  snow.  They  had  moments  of  heavenly, 
as  well  as  earthly,  vision  there ;  moments  in 
which  they  felt  so  freed  from  the  narrowing 
limitations  of  the  ordinary  world,  and  also 
from  its  baffling  haze,  that  the  soul  seemed  to 
leap  into  larger  freedom  also,  and  they  had 
clearer,  serener,  more  entrancing  views  of  God 
and  of  the  things  above  than  they  ever  enjoyed 
below. 

Did  ever  Jesus  feel  this  elevating  and  calming 
power  of  mountain  solitude  upon  His  perfectly 
human  soul  ?  We  like  to  think  He  did.  But, 
however  that  may  be,  His  practice  does  suggest 
that  what  we  need  for  our  best  fellowship  with 
God  is  not  solitude  only,  but  height :  that  the 
prayer-chamber  should  be  to  us  a  place  where 
we  can  look  down  upon  our  daily  life  as  we 
would  look  from  a  mountain  summit  on  the 
plain  beneath ;  that  there  the  noises  of  our 
daily  business  and  anxieties  should  be  hushed  ; 
and  that  there  we  should  gain  a  larger  outlook 
than  is  possible  lower  down. 

It   is    nearly  impossible    for  one   who    never 


THE  MOUNTAIN- VISION  47 

gets  above  a  level  plain  to  understand  his 
limitations,  or  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  his 
narrow  life  ;  but,  looking  down  upon  it  from  a 
height,  he  sees  things  in  their  right  proportions  ; 
the  apparently  great  are  contrasted  with  the 
really  great,  the  things  close  at  hand  are 
measured  by  the  immensities  beyond  them. 
What  he  thought  of  as  a  great  city  becomes 
a  mere  speck  in  the  distance ;  the  mighty  river 
is  only  a  silver  thread  ;  the  towering  cathedral 
is  so  dwarfed  as  to  be  hardly  visible  ;  what  he 
used  to  speak  of  as  his  encircling  hills  are 
shorn  of  the  smallest  pretension  to  the  name. 
And  then,  too,  as  these  apparent  magnitudes 
dwindle  into  insignificance,  larger  and  hitherto 
unsuspected  magnitudes  come  into  view. 

Something  like  this  is  gained  when,  in  a 
quiet  hour  of  meditation  and  prayer,  we  are 
lifted  above  the  world  in  which  we  ordinarily 
move.  Many  a  false  estimate  is  rectified  there. 
Our  ambitions,  plans,  labours,  worries,  vexa- 
tions, sorrows,  cares,  fall  into  their  true  pro- 
portions. We  can  measure  them  and  test  them 
as  we    there    look    down    upon   them,   till  we 


48  THE  MOUNTAIN- VISION 

come  to  see  them  just  as  they  are  seen  by  God 
Himself.  We  sometimes  speak  of  getting  from 
a  mountain- top  "  a  bird's-eye  view  "  of  things. 
From  the  mountain-top  of  secret  prayer  we  get 
a  "  God's-eye  view"  of  everything;  and  it  is 
marvellous  how  that  makes  many  great  things 
look  small,  and  small  things  great ;  how  all 
mere  worldly  ambitions  look  surprisingly  poor, 
and  heavenly  ambitions  the  only  ones  worth 
having.  There  is  a  wonderful  reversal  of  esti- 
mates there  ;  but  to  gain  it  is  worth  the  climb  ; 
for,  descending  the  hill,  we  can  carry  away  with 
us  the  vision  of  the  mountain-top  to  sanctify  all 
our  feelings  when  busy  with  things  below. 

It  is  only  by  going  daily  in  this  way  above 
the  world,  and  looking  down  upon  it,  that  we 
can  become  really  superior  to  its  false  attrac- 
tions, and  meet  them  with  nobler  ambitions 
stirring  in  the  breast,  and  the  light  of  heaven 
shining  on  the  face. 

Our  Lord  and  Master's  experience  may  help 
us  here.  It  was  while  He  was  praying  on  a 
mountain-top  that  He  was  suddenly  transfigured, 
and  the  glory  of  heaven  so  shone  out  in  Him 


THE   MOUNTAIN- VISION  49 

that  the  three  disciples  who  "were  with  Him 
in  the  holy  mount "  were  blinded  by  the  lustre 
of  it.  Now  the  Lord  did  not  go  up  that  moun- 
tain in  order  to  be  transfigured.  He  went  up 
to  pray.  The  dark  shadow  of  the  coming 
Cross  was  over  Him  already,  and  the  horror 
of  it  as  affecting  His  disciples  made  Him  seek 
some  comfort  from  the  Father  for  theyyi  in 
prospect  of  it,  as  well  as  for  Himself ;  and  the 
glorious  Transfiguration  was  God's  answer  to 
the  prayer.  And  just  as  it  was  while  praying 
that  Jesus  was  ijistantaneously  transfigured, 
so  it  is  by  prayer  that  His  disciples  are  gradu- 
ally transfigured  till  they  also  can  shine  with 
the  reflected  beauty  of  heaven. 

That  such  an  effect  should  be  the  outcome 
of  long-continued  faithful  fellowship  with  God 
in  secret  will  not  seem  wonderful  if  we  consider 
what  true  prayer  is.  It  is  the  direct  contact 
of  the  soul  with  God.  In  this  divine  com- 
panionship we  get  completely  out  of  contact 
with  the  things  below,  and  stand  face  to  face 
with  Him  near  whom  none  can  long  be 
without  catching  something  of  His  glory.     All 


50  THE  MOUNTAIN-VISION 

prolonged  contact  with  earthly  things  tends  to 
make  us  earthly  in  feeling  and  in  life.  All 
really  close  and  prolonged  contact  with  heaven 
must  tend  to  make  us  heaven-like,  and,  there- 
fore, God-like  too. 

The  very  countenance  of  a  man  of  much 
prayer  will  often  bear  witness  to  his  acquainted- 
ness  with  the  mountain-height.  It  will  show  a 
softened  spiritual  beauty  that  in  his  prayerless 
days  it  never  had.  But  whether  the  face  bears 
witness  to  the  mountain-top  or  not,  the  whole 
life  and  character  will.  There  is  sure  to  be 
seen  in  his  whole  tone  an  elevation  of  feeling 
showing  clearly  that  he  is  accustomed  to  be 
often  very  near  to  God :  and  thus  his  high 
fellowship  with  God  will  bring  about  a  high 
life  before  men.  If  any  Christian  finds  that 
his  soul  is  not  sufficiently  raised  above  the 
down-dragging  influence  of  earthly  things, 
and  his  life  not  transformed,  gradually  but 
surely,  into  the  beauty  of  holiness,  it  is  only 
because  he  does  not  often  enough  climb  the 
hiU  of  secret  communion  with  God,  nor  linger 
long  enough  there  to  catch  its  heavenly  glow. 


THE  MOUNTAIN-VISION  51 

We  need  to  be  much  in  the  company  of  God 
if  we  are  to  understand  God,  to  sympathise 
with  God,  to  feel  as  God  feels,  to  resemble 
God.  Two  human  hearts  that  are  constantly 
together,  dwelling  in  the  same  house,  sharing 
the  same  table,  talking  with  each  other,  finding 
each  other's  presence  a  daily  joy,  get  in  time 
wonderfully  to  resemble  each  other  in  all  their 
habits  of  life,  in  their  way  of  looking  at  life, 
in  all  their  feelings  about  life,  even  in  the  very 
tones  of  the  voice.  It  is  this  kind  of  intimacy 
with  God  that  we  need  to  cultivate ;  an  intimacy 
that  will  enable  us  to  understand  God  in  all  the 
ways  of  His  Divine  love,  and  will  prevent  us 
from  misunderstanding  Him  when  His  love  is 
a  little  concealed ;  an  intimacy  that  will 
gradually  make  us  resemble  God  too,  lifting 
us  into  a  region  purer  and  loftier  than  other 
men  know  anything  of. 

•'  Wlien  one  that  holds  communion  with  the  skies, 
Has  filled  his  urn  where  these  pure  waters  rise, 
And  once  more  mingles  with  earth's  meaner  things ; 
'Tis  even  as  if  an  angel  shook  his  wings : 
Immortal  fragrance  fills  the  circuit  wide, 
And  tells  us  whence  his  treasures  are  suppHed." 


52  THE  MOUNTAIN-VISION 

We  must  go  upward  as  well  as  onward  in 
our  acquaintance  with  God,  and  linger  long 
amid  the  glories  of  the  mountain  vision,  if  we 
are  to  come  forth  radiant  from  the  secret 
place,  and  be  shining  witnesses  to  a  shining 
Lord. 


WE    ESTIMATE    OURSELVES    ARIGHT 
ONLY  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD 


'  Search  tne,  0  God !  my  actions  try, 

And  let  my  life  appear 
As  seen  by  Thine  all-searching  eye, — 

To  mine  my  ways  make  clear. 

Search  all  my  thoughts,  the  secret  springs, 

The  motives  that  control ; 
The  chambers  where  polluted  things 

Hold  empire  o'er  the  soul. 

Search  till  Thy  fiery  glance  has  cast 

Its  holy  light  through  all, 
And  I  by  grace  am  brought  at  last 

Before  Thy  face  to  fall." 

Rev.  F.  Bottomb. 


VI 


WE    ESTIMATE    OURSELVES    ARIGHT 
ONLY  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

"T3EFORE  I  can  have  any  joy  in  being  alone 
■"^^^  with  God  I  must  have  learned  not  to 
fear  being  alone  with  myself.  If  my  heart  is 
not  right  with  God  I  cannot  possibly  delight 
in  fellowship  with  Him ;  and  I  cannot  be  right 
with  Him  until  I  am  right  with  myself.  My 
shrinking  from  close  companionship  with  Him 
in  the  secret  place  may  be  due  to  the  fact 
that  I  am  indifferent  to  His  presence,  and  do 
not  care  to  speak  to  Him  or  to  hear  Him  speak 
to  me  ;  but  it  may  sometimes  be  due  to 
another  fact — that   I   am   afraid  of    God,   and 

therefore  afraid  to  see  myself  as  I  appear  to 

55 


56  RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES 

Him  ;  afraid  to  give  my  conscience  the  chance 
of  speaking  to  me  more  loudly  than  I  like ; 
afraid  to  look  very  narrowly  into  myself,  lest 
I  should  make  discoveries  too  destructive  of 
my  self-esteem,  disconcerting  me  by  tearing 
away  every  shred  of  that  good  opinion  of 
myself  in  which  I  have  been  living  content- 
edly for  long ;  afraid,  that  is,  to  see  myself 
as  God  sees  me,  and  as  I  really  am. 

This  shrinking  from  any  deep  self-scrutiny 
is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  thing,  and 
often  goes  far  to  explain  the  feverish  restless- 
ness with  which  a  world-loving  heart  plunges 
into  a  perpetual  round  of  gaieties  and  dissipa- 
tions. It  is  not  always  that  any  great  satis- 
faction is  found  in  these  things,  but  they 
serve  as  an  escape  from  troublesome  questions 
about  the  soul,  and  help  to  get  rid  of  the 
clamours  of  conscience  that  would  be  unbear- 
able if  any  quiet  hour  were  left  in  which  its 
accusing  voice  might  be  listened  to. 

But  something  must  be  terribly  wrong  with 
any  man  who  is  afraid  to  be  alone  with  him- 
self.    Humbling  and  saddening  the  discoveries 


RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES  57 

then  made  may  be,  but  to  face  them  honestly 
is  the  only  way  to  life  and  peace.  Every  one 
who  "  comes  home  to  God "  must  first,  like  the 
prodigal,  "  come  to  himself "  ;  and  there  is  no 
place  like  the  chamber  of  quiet  thought  and 
prayer  for  that. 

Job  learned  it  there.  It  was  when  all  other 
voices  were  hushed,  and  God's  voice  alone  was 
heard,  that  he  came  to  see  his  sinfulness  and 
feel  it  so  acutely  that  he  cried,  "  Behold,  O 
Lord,  I  am  vile,  and  what  shall  I  answer 
Thee  ? "  Largely  upright  though  he  had  been, 
a  man  of  blameless  life,  "fearing  God  and 
eschewing  evil,"  he  had  never  before  sounded 
the  depths  of  his  sinfulness.  The  unjust  sus- 
picions and  accusations  of  his  three  friends 
only  helped  him  to  justify  himself  and  blinded 
him  to  the  real  truth.  But  when  face  to  face 
with  God  all  illusions  vanished,  and  he  said, 
"  I  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 

It  was  when  alone  with  God  that  Isaiah 
learned  to  feel  in  the  same  way.  Sitting 
apart  from  all,  he  had  a  wonderful  vision  of 
the  Seraphim  in  the  Holy  Place  and  heard  the 


58  RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES 

music  of  their  praise  ;  and  then  there  flashed 
into  him  the  thought  of  the  contrast  between 
himself  and  them,  and  he  could  only  cry, 
"  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone  ;  I  am  a  man 
of  unclean  lips,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the 
King,  the  Lord  of  hosts."  We  might  have 
expected  to  hear  him  say,  "Blessed  are  mine 
eyes,  for  they  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord 
of  hosts,"  but  we  hear  only  an  exclamation  of 
intensest  self-condemnation  and  shame.  He 
saw  the  Seraphim  bathed  in  the  holiness  they 
were  singing  of,  and  there  flashed  upon  him 
the  humbling  thought  of  his  own  unlikeness 
to  them.  "  How  could  I  stand  beside  these 
holy  ones  ?  how  could  I  sing  in  that  heavenly 
choir,  even  though  a  golden  harp  were  given 
me  ?  Heaven  so  pure  and  my  own  heart  so 
unclean,  woe  is  me !  I  am  farther  off  from 
God  than  I  supposed  myself  to  be  ! " 

Isaiah  was  a  true  man  of  God,  a  sanctified 
man,  a  greatly  sanctified  man,  perhaps  the 
holiest  man  then  living  on  the  earth  ;  and  yet 
one  glimpse  of  God  in  the  secret  place  gave 
him  such  a  glimpse  of  himself  as   made   him 


RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES  59 

fall    down    in    deepest    penitence    and    shame 
before  the  thrice-Holy  One. 

There  is  nothing  like  this  coming  face  to 
face  with  God  in  secret  for  stripping  off  all 
the  common  conventional  disguises  of  our  sins 
and  showing  us  the  naked  truth.  When  the 
light  of  heaven  is  there  let  into  the  dark 
corners  of  the  soul,  there  come  astonishing 
discoveries  of  sins  that  the  darkness  had 
concealed. 

Sitting  on  a  bright  summer  day  among  the 
stones  half-hidden  by  the  grass  and  heather 
of  some  warm  hillside,  admiring  one  of  them 
gay  with  the  colours  of  lichen  and  moss,  and 
listening  to  the  joyous  song  of  some  happy 
bird  that  has  perched  upon  it,  we  seem  to  be 
looking  on  a  perfect  picture  of  purity  and 
peace,  till  some  sudden  impulse  makes  us  over- 
turn the  stone  to  see  what  is  beneath.  And 
then,  what  a  revulsion  of  feeling  !  A  whole 
colony  of  loathsome,  wriggling  creatures,  dis- 
turbed by  the  light,  are  rushing  hither  and 
thither,  burrowing  out  of  sight  into  congenial 
darkness    again !     So   will    the    light   of    God, 


60  RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES 

when  suddenly  let  in  upon  what  lies  beneath 
the  fair  exterior  of  life,  reveal  in  one  moment 
a  multitude  of  sins  that  were  never  suspected 
to  be  there. 

Not  worldly  men  alone  but  even  the  best 
of  Christians  find  this  to  be  true.  The 
saintliest  are  always  the  humblest.  Growth 
in  holiness  can  be  measured  by  the  acuteness 
of  the  consciousness  of  remaining  sinfulness. 
The  more  our  prayers  for  enlightenment  are 
answered,  the  more  our  deep  sinfulness  comes 
into  view.  Was  not  this  exemplified  in  the 
experience  of  that  saintly  man,  the  Apostle 
Paul  ?  In  the  year  59,  writing  to  the  Corin- 
thians, he  calls  himself  "  the  least  of  the 
Apostles."  Five  years  later,  in  the  year  64, 
writing  to  the  Ephesians,  he  calls  himself 
"  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints "  ;  and  in  the 
year  65,  when  just  finishing  his  course  and 
ready  to  enter  into  his  Master's  joy,  he  writes 
to  Timothy  and  calls  himself  '*  the  chief  of 
sinners."  His  sins  seem  to  grow  behind  him 
as  the  love  and  glory  of  Christ  grow  before 
him.     Christ's   grace   seems   larger  for  his   en- 


RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES  61 

larging  view  of  his  sins,  and  his  sins  seem 
greater  for  his  increasing  sense  of  the  love 
that  has  washed  these  sins  away. 

It  cannot  be  safe  for  us  to  be  blind  to  the 
sins  which  God  sees  clearly  enough  ;  and  yet 
how  greatly  we  ignore  that  large  region  of 
our  sinfulness  that  is  below  the  surface,  out 
of  the  view  of  others,  and  often  out  of  our 
own  view  too !  Open  sins  we  easily  detect, 
and  perhaps  confess,  but  sins  of  thought  and 
imagination  and  feeling — the  deep  stirrings  of 
pride  and  vanity,  of  covetousness  and  im- 
purity, of  resentment  and  envy  and  discon- 
tent— we  hardly  think  of  these  ;  or,  if  we  do, 
we  excuse  them  easily  as  being  just  sins  of 
our  nature  and  temperament  and  constitution, 
for  which  we  are  hardly  responsible,  or  at 
least  much  less  responsible  than  we  are  for 
open  sins. 

All  self-deceptions  such  as  these  will  perish 
when  we  are  really  alone  with  God.  In  the 
secret  of  His  presence,  and  under  its  all-reveal- 
ing light,  we  will  see  that  our  worst  sins  are 
not    the    open    ones   (great   as    these   may   be) 


62  RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES 

that  are  only  exceptional,  but  the  hidden  sins, 
continually  active  though  working  in  the  dark ; 
just  as  an  army  of  white  ants  will  pick  a 
carcase  clean  sooner  than  a  lion  will. 

It  is  very  significant  that  in  Solomon's  cata- 
logue of  "  six  things  which  the  Lord  hates, 
yea,  seven  which  are  an  abomination  unto 
Him,"  the  very  foremost  place  is  given  to 
what  few  men  would  consider  a  sin  at  all — 
"  a  proud  look,  a  lying  tongue,  hands  that 
shed  innocent  blood,  a  heart  that  deviseth 
wicked  imaginations,  feet  that  are  swift  to 
run  to  mischief,  a  false  witness  that  speaketh 
lies,  and  he  that  soweth  discord  among 
brethren."  A  black  catalogue  that !  most  of 
them  sins  that  all  men  will  condemn,  and  of 
which  most  men  would  be  ashamed.  But  at 
the  very  head  of  the  list  stands  the  "proud 
look,"  and  as  there  cannot  be  a  proud  look 
unless  there  is  a  proud  heart  behind  it,  it  is 
the  hidden  pride  of  heart  that  here  is  stamped 
with  the  foremost  reprobation  of  God.  When 
the  sanctimoniousness  of  the  Pharisee  in  the 
temple    was    scathingly    held    up    to    view   by 


RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES  63 

Jesus  Christ,  the  working  of  his  proud  heart 
was  unmistakably  seen.  His  words,  "  God,  I 
thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men," 
were  no  expression  of  indebtedness  to  God. 
They  meant  simply,  "  I  have  great  reason  to 
congratulate  myself."  The  mask  of  saintliness 
that  gained  him  credit  in  the  eyes  of  men 
was  torn  off  by  the  only  hand  that  could  do 
it,  and  then  the  proud  heart  (the  parent  of 
the  proud  look)  stood  revealed.  Therefore  it 
is  that  when  Christ  speaks  of  the  distinguish- 
ing marks  of  the  heirs  of  His  kingdom,  He 
puts  in  the  foreground  that  deep  humility 
which  is  the  direct  opposite  of  the  proud 
heart,  and  says,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
So,  too,  when  the  disciples  came  asking  Him, 
"Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven?"  He  took  a  child  and  set  him  in 
their  midst  and  answered,  "  Whosoever  shall 
humble  himself  as  this  little  child." 

The  road  of  self -humbling  is  the  only  road 
that  leads  to  peace  and  honour  at  last 
"  Stoop  !     stoop  ! "     said     Samuel     Rutherford 


64  RIGHT  SELF-ESTIMATES 

writing  to  a  most  pious  and  godly  friend — 
"  Stoop  !  stoop  !  it  is  a  low,  low  door  by  which 
we  enter  the  kingdom  of  God."  Nowhere  can 
we  learn  this  so  well  as  in  the  secret  place 
where  we  are  alone  with  God. 


OUR   PERFECT  FREEDOM   OF 
CONFESSION  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD 


"  Thou  knowest,  Lord,  the  weariness  and  sorrow 
Of  the  sad  heart  that  comes  to  Thee  for  rest; 
Cares  of  to-day,  and  burdens  of  to-morrow. 
Blessings  implored,  and  sins  to  be  confessed. 
I  come  before  Thee,  at  Thy  gracious  word. 
And  lay  them  at  Thy  feet, — Thou  knowest.  Lord." 

Jane  L.  Borthwick. 


VII 


OUR  PERFECT  FREEDOM  OF 
CONFESSION  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

TTN  the  secret  of  His  presence  we  can  lay  bare 
to  Him,  without  fear,  the  inmost  secrets 
of  the  soul.  This  is  what  we  cannot  do  even 
to  the  dearest  friend  on  earth.  It  is  what  we 
sometimes  dare  not  do.  Our  lips  are  sealed 
for  very  shame.  But  freely  and  unrestrainedly 
we  can  confide  our  most  secret  shames  and 
sadnesses  to  the  ear  of  our  listening  Lord. 
It  is  this  that  makes  the  prayer-chamber  a 
place  of  such  infinite  relief  to  an  overburdened 
spirit. 

There  is  a  most  suggestive  argument  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  that  makes  God's  perfect 
knowledge  of  us  the  very  ground  of  our  freedom 

67 


68  PERFECT  FREEDOM  OF  CONFESSION 

in  prayer.  "  All  things  are  naked  and  opened 
unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do." 
What  then  ?  "  Let  us,  therefore,  tremble  before 
Him  and  shrink  from  His  eye  "  ?  Not  so  :  "  Let 
us,  therefore,  come  boldly  to  the  Throne  of  Grace, 
that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to 
help  in  time  of  need."  A  surprising  argument, 
but  a  very  comforting  one.  It  may  look  the 
very  opposite  of  comforting  to  remind  us  of 
One  whose  knowledge  of  us  is  so  minute :  and 
so,  when  we  go  on  to  read  of  the  sympathy 
of  a  tempted  Christ,  we  might  suppose  that 
that  consideration  was  brought  in  merely  to 
neutralise  the  oppressiveness  of  the  Omni- 
science. But  the  truth  is  that  even  Divine 
sympathy  would  be  of  very  little  use  to  us 
unless  it  were  based  upon  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  every  element  in  the  case  :  otherwise  it  would 
be  an  ignorant  sympathy ;  and  an  ignorant 
sympathy  can  do  no  one  much  real  good. 

Is  it  not  so  even  in  human  things  ?  You  are 
in  trouble  and  perplexity  because  your  worldly 
affairs  have  all  gone  wrong.  Extrication  from 
your  difficulties  seems  impossible.     You   go  to 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  69 

consult  a  wise  friend  about  the  case,  and  you 
lay  before  him  a  pretty  full  statement  of  it, 
but  do  not  tell  him  all.  Some  of  your  trans- 
actions that  look  to  yourself  and  will  look  to 
others  decidedly  dishonest  you  conceal,  either 
from  shame  or  fear.  Your  friend  gives  you  the 
best  advice  he  can :  but  it  does  not  relieve  you 
much.  You  cannot  act  upon  it,  because  you 
see  clearly  that  it  is  based  upon  a  very  imperfect 
knowledge  of  what  the  case  really  is.  Finding 
you  ere  long  still  in  the  depths  of  gloom,  he 
says  to  you,  "I  suspect  you  are  keeping  some- 
thing back;  you  have  not  confided  everything 
to  me :  if  I  am  to  be  of  real  service  to  you, 
there  must  be  no  half-confidences,  I  must  know 
the  very  worst;  you  must  honestly  tell  me 
all."  And  then  you  do  tell  him  all.  It  costs 
you  something  to  lay  bare  to  him  your  hidden 
sins :  but  the  next  moment  you  are  surprised 
to  hear  him  say  that  now,  for  the  first  time, 
he  sees  the  true  way  of  relief.  He  can  help 
you  just  because  he  knows  the  very  worst 
about  you.  Is  it  not  just  in  this  way  that 
God's    perfect    knowledge    of    us    becomes    an 


70     PERFECT  FREEDOM  OF  CONFESSION 

assurance  to  us  that  He  can  really  help  us  in 
our  time  of  need?  What  He  says  to  us  is, 
"Because  I  know  everything  about  you,  come 
with  boldness  to  my  Throne  of  Grace." 

This  is  a  surprising  argument  perhaps :  but 
it  will  not  be  a  wholly  surprising  one  to  those 
who  know  what  the  heart  of  God  really  is. 
Have  we  ever  noted  what  kind  of  words  the 
Bible  uses  to  describe  that  heart  ?  It  speaks 
not  only  of  the  "  grace  "  that  is  in  it,  but  of  the 
"  riches  of  grace ;  and  exceeding  riches  of 
grace  " ;  not  only  of  the  "  kindness "  that  is  in 
it,  but  the  "  loving  kindness " ;  not  only  of  the 
"  mercies "  that  are  in  it,  but  the  "  tender 
mercies."  There  is  in  us  such  a  thing  as 
kindness  without  love ;  there  is  sometimes  love 
without  kindness.  But  there  is  a  sweet 
compound  of  both  of  these,  making  "loving- 
kindness,"  and  that  is  found  in  perfection  in 
the  heart  of  God.  There  are  in  us  mercies  that 
are  not  particularly  tender.  It  is  a  mercy 
often  to  a  child  to  chastise  it  for  its  wilfulness ; 
it  may  be  a  mercy  to  a  criminal  to  shut  him 
up     in     prison  ;     but    there    is     nothing    very 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  71 

"  tender  "  in  either  of  these  operations.  There 
is  a  "tenderness,"  too,  that  is  deficient  in  real 
mercy.  It  is  mere  weak,  foolish,  hurtful,  good- 
natured  indulgence.  But  mercy  and  tenderness 
can  also  be  combined ;  and  for  their  perfect 
combination  we  must  look  into  the  heart  of 
God.  And  it  is  there  that  the  Apostle  bids  us 
look  for  our  encouragement  to  "  come  boldly  to 
the  Throne  of  Grace." 

What  most  of  all  prevents  our  coming  boldly 
is  our  deep  consciousness  of  sin.  An  over- 
whelming sense  of  sin  makes  us  doubtful  of  a 
welcome  if  we  should  draw  nigh.  Prayer  to 
the  Infinitely  Holy  One,  who  is  also  the 
Infinitely  Knowing  One,  seems  almost  an  insult 
when  uttered  by  creatures  so  unholy  as  we 
feel  ourselves  to  be.  But  it  is  that  Holy  One 
Himself  who  says,  "  Put  all  that  consciousness 
of  My  knowledge  of  your  worst  as  an  argu- 
ment on  the  other  side ;  precisely  because  I 
do  know  all,  trust  Me  to  be  able  to  help  you 
when  you  come."  The  argument  is  just :  for, 
if  He  knows  all  about  us,  He  knows  more  than 
merely  our  sins.     He  knows  our  difficulties,  our 


72     PERFECT  FREEDOM   OF  CONFESSION 

infirmities,  our  struggles,  our  temptations,  our 
conflicts,  our  longings,  our  aspirations ;  and 
His  heart  is  going  out  to  us  in  deep  com- 
passionating love,  even  when  (judging  Him 
by  ourselves)  we  think  of  Him  as  standing 
sternly  aloof  from  us,  coldly  and  critically 
and  accusingly  looking  on  from  a  distance. 

Surely  there  is  nothing  so  little  understood 
as  the  Heart  of  God,  else  we  would  never  be 
afraid  to  go  to  Him  with  our  sins,  as  well  as 
with  our  griefs :  for  there  is  nothing  in  which 
He  spends  His  blessed  life  more  gladly  than  in 
pardoning  and  helping  sinners.  The  largeness 
of  His  Heart  does  not  wait  till  the  worthiness 
of  man  can  meet  it.  He  deals  with  us  in  a  way 
of  transcendent  generosity.  His  love  is  always 
far  ahead  of  our  prayers.  He  ^'prevents  us 
with  the  blessings  of  goodness " :  and,  when 
any  downcast  heart  cries  out  to  Him  in  its 
sinfulness,  quicker  than  a  lightning  flash  His 
love  leaps  to  the  conclusion  of  mercy ;  and  ere 
the  broken  prayer  is  half  uttered,  the  mercy 
is  on  its  way. 

We  thus  see  how  the  distrust  that  so  often 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  73 

oppresses  us  at  the  very  door  of  the  secret 
place  is  to  be  overcome.  It  is  by  having  the 
very  largest  conceptions  of  the  heart  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ.  We  make  our  sin  an  argument 
for  fearing  God.  He  makes  it  an  argument 
for  coming  nigh.  The  utmost  we  can  think  of 
Him  as  saying  is,  "  Although  you  are  sinful, 
you  may  come."  He  puts  it  quite  another  way, 
"  Because  you  are  so  sinful,  come — come  because 
you  need  Me  so  much."  Alas  for  all  of  us,  if 
we  needed  to  stop  sinning  before  we  could 
confidently  pray  !  Alas  for  us  if  only  perfect 
men  could  come  boldly  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  ! 
If  we  go  to  God  at  all,  we  must,  like  the 
prodigal,  go  in  our  rags,  and  hunger,  and  sin, 
and  utter  need :  but  the  compassionate  Father, 
whose  heart  has  never  changed,  will  see  us 
while  we  are  yet  "  a  great  way  off  " — for  He 
has  been  on  the  outlook  for  us,  waiting  for 
our  coming — and  He  will  shorten  the  distance 
between  us  and  Him  by  going  forth  to  meet 
us :  and  ere  we  have  got  half  of  our  weeping 
confession  out.  He  will  be  calling  for  the  robe, 
and  the  ring,  and  the  fatted  calf,  and  giving 
us  such  a  welcome  as  we  never  hoped  to  find. 


THE  COMFORT  OF  CHRIST'S  SYMPATHY 
FELT  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD 


'  Thou  knowest,  not  alone  as  God  All-Knowing, 
As  man,  our  mortal  weakness  Thou  hast  proved 
On  Earth,  with  purest  sympathies  o'erflowing, 
0  Saviour  I  Thou  hast  wept,  and  Thou  hast  loved : 
And  love  and  sorrow  stUl  to  Thee  may  come. 
And  find  a  hiding-place,  a  rest,  a  home." 

Jane  L.  Borthwick. 


VIII 

THE    COMFORT    OF   CHRIST'S   SYMPATHY 
FELT   WHEN   ALONE    WITH   GOD 

TF  it  is  an  encouragement  to  us  in  the  secret 
place  of  prayer  that  we  have  a  Divine 
Listener  who  knows  us  thoroughly,  it  is  a 
further  encouragement  that  we  have  a  Divine 
Sympathiser  who  can  feel  for  us  as  well :  "  a 
Great  High  Priest  who  is  passed  into  the 
heavens,"  who  "knows  what  sore  temptations 
are,  for  He  has  felt  the  same."  The  word  "  High 
Priest "  has,  to  our  modern  ears,  no  very  special 
or  tender  significance  ;  but  to  an  ancient  Jew 
it  was  as  significant  as  the  word  "  Mother "  is 
to  us.  The  High  Priest  was  the  living  embodi- 
ment of  God's  pity  for  the  sinful :  and  he  was 

77 


78    COMFORT  OF   CHRIST'S   SYMPATHY 

"  taken  from  among  men "  that  he  might  be 
able  to  understand  men  when  pleading  for 
them  with  God.  It  will  help  us  greatly,  in  the 
secret  place,  to  think  of  Jesus  as  our  High 
Priest,  "made  like  His  brethren"  that  His  own 
experience  of  temptation  might  qualify  Him  for 
being  a  sympathising  listener  to  their  confes- 
sions at  His  feet. 

It  helps  us  greatly  to  think  of  Him  as  "in  all 
points  tempted  like  as  we  are."  It  is  not  said 
that  He  was  tempted  in  all  circumstances  like 
ourselves.  We  find  ourselves  in  circumstances 
where  Christ  never  was :  and  we  might,  there- 
fore, be  inclined  to  say,  "  He  was  never  situated 
just  as  I  am,  in  business,  or  in  society,  or  in 
domestic  life;  and  however  He  may  pity  me. 
He  cannot  sympathise  with  me  here."  But  He 
was  tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are.  There  was 
no  part  of  His  human  nature  that  temptation 
did  not  assail.  Every  sense  and  every  faculty 
which  in  us  is  attacked  by  temptation,  was 
attacked  in  Him.  By  sight,  by  sound,  by  touch, 
by  taste,  by  love,  by  fear,  by  shame,  by  ambi- 
tion, by  doubt,  by  despair.  He  was  assailed  just 


FELT  WHEN  ALONE  WITH   GOD      79 

as  any  of  ourselves.  In  all  points,  on  all-  sides 
of  His  nature,  He  was  tempted  like  us,  though 
not  by  the  same  things :  and  so  He  can  under- 
stand and  sympathise  with  us  as  none  else 
can  do. 

It  helps  us,  too,  to  think  of  Him  as  one  who 
"  suffered  being  tempted  "  :  for  if  it  was  in  some 
way  pain  to  Him  to  resist  and  overcome,  He  can 
sympathise  with  the  pain  temptation  brings  on 
us.  The  pain  of  it  in  His  case  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  He  was  so  perfectly  human  as  well  as 
perfectly  Divine,  and  His  human  nature,  like 
our  own,  had  sensibilities  easily  wounded  and 
weaknesses  easily  played  upon.  When  tempted 
in  the  wilderness,  it  was  His  bodily  hunger  and 
the  weakness  caused  by  it  that  made  the 
temptation  sore.  He  might  have  overcome 
without  any  pain  if  the  temptation  had  come 
immediately  after  that  wonderful  scene  when, 
at  His  baptism,  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on 
Him,  and  He  heard  the  voice  from  heaven, 
"This  is  My  beloved  Son":  for  when  the  soul  is 
at  the  white  heat  of  a  great  enthusiasm,  glowing 
with   the  fire   of    the   Spirit,   any  assault  will 


80    COMFORT  OF  CHRIST'S  SYMPATHY 

scarcely  touch  it.  In  a  high  spiritual  tempera- 
ture, we  are  almost  above  some  forms  of 
temiptation.  Evil  suggestions  die  as  soon  as 
they  are  born.  They  fall  like  arrows  on  a  shield 
of  triple  brass.  But  the  tempter  waited  till  the 
bodily  exhaustion  of  Jesus  gave  him  a  chance  he 
never  had  before  :  and  it  is  from  our  weakness, 
too,  that  temptation  borrows  all  its  force.  A 
temptation  which  one  day  we  easily  cast  off, 
another  day  as  easily  overpowers  us.  It  may  be 
the  same  temptation,  but  we  are  not  the 
same ;  we  are  changed  in  outward  circum- 
stances— changed,  perhaps,  in  health  ;  our  whole 
atmosphere  is  changed.  When  physically  and 
spiritually  strong,  temptation  is  weak :  when 
physically  and  spiritually  weak,  temptation  is 
strong  and  resistance  to  it  is  pain. 

Sin  does  not  lie  in  the  passions  and  appetites, 
but  in  the  loill.  It  does  not  lie  even  in  the 
strength  of  the  passions,  but  in  the  absence  of 
a  stronger  controlling  will :  and  Christ's  sinless- 
ness  lay  not  in  the  want  of  the  feelings  natural 
to  man,  but  in  the  complete  subordination  of 
these  feelings  to   the  higher  feelings  of  a  will 


FELT  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD      81 

perfectly  at  one  with  God.  He  had  a  perfectly 
human  love  of  rest,  and  in  that  there  was  no 
sin  ;  He  needed  rest.  But  when  tempted  to  give 
up  His  Father's  work  for  the  sake  of  rest  His 
perfect  will  cried,  "  I  must  work  the  works  My 
Father  giveth  Me  to  do."  He  had  a  perfectly 
human  indignation  at  injustice  and  ivrong — 
witness  His  words :  "  Are  ye  come  out  as 
against  a  thief,  with  swords  and  staves,  to  take 
Me  ?  " — an  indignation  that  in  any  of  us  would 
pass  easily  into  revenge  :  and  He  overcame  the 
temptation  by  saying,  "  but  the  Scriptures  must 
be  fulfilled."  He  had  a  perfectly  human  shrink- 
ing from  shame  and  dishonour — a  shrinking, 
therefore,  from  the  disgrace  attaching  to  a 
crucifixion -death.  In  that  there  was  no  sin. 
But  when  tempted  on  that  account  to  refuse  the 
Cross,  He  conquered  by  the  faith  that  said,  "Not 
My  will  but  Thine  be  done." 

In  all  this  He  "learned  obedience  by  the 
things  He  suffered  " ;  learned  the  pain  that  must 
often  be  involved  in  obedience  where  weak  men 
are  concerned ;  learned  it  as  He  could  not  other- 
wise have  done,  by  actual  participation  in  their 

7 


82     COMFORT  OF  CHRIST'S  SYMPATHY 

weakness.  When  tempted  to  relieve  His  hunger 
by  an  act  of  disobedience  and  distrust,  or  when 
tempted  to  secure  the  homage  of  the  crowd  by 
proclaiming  Himself  an  earthly  king,  there  was 
really  no  risk  of  His  yielding  to  the  temptation, 
for  His  perfect  will  beat  only  in  harmony  with 
the  will  of  God ;  but  he  learned,  by  enduring 
the  temptation,  how  hard  it  must  often  be  for 
weak  men,  whose  wills  are  not  perfectly  attuned 
to  God,  to  overcome :  how  hard  the  struggle 
must  sometimes  be  for  those  who  see  that 
earthly  gain  will  be  the  result  of  some  specious 
sin,  while  righteousness  brings  no  reward  on 
earth  at  all,  but  only  suffering  and  tears,  and 
who,  seeing  this,  are,  in  a  moment  of  temptation, 
sorely  perplexed,  and  scarce  know  how  to  escape 
defeat.  The  "  suffering  "  under  temptation  thus 
gave  Him  a  new  power  of  experimental  sym- 
pathy with  suffering  men.  He  gained  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  sympathise  with 
the  painful  struggles  of  His  brethren,  while 
He  had  not  the  disadvantage  of  being  Him- 
self overcome:  for  He  was  tempted,  ''yet 
ivithout  sin." 


FELT  WHEN  ALONE   WITH   GOD      83 

Does  it  seem  strange  to  call  His  sinlessness  an 
advantage  to  His  sympathy  ?  Do  we  think  it 
would  have  been  better  for  us  if  He  had  known 
something  of  defeat  ?  If  even  once  He  had  been 
overcome,  would  not  that  have  brought  Him 
nearer  to  us,  and  made  us  more  assured  of  His 
sympathy  in  oiC7'  defeats? 

But  we  are  called  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  to 
obtain  mercy,  and  not  merely  a  sort  of  indulgent 
or  easy-going  indifference  to  our  falls.  What 
kind  of  sympathy  is  it  that  we  need  in  Him  to 
whom  we  lay  bare  the  secrets  of  our  hearts, 
and  who  is  our  Judge,  as  well  as  our  Brother 
Man?  Does  the  fact  that  a  man  has  fallen 
before  temptation  make  him  better  able  to 
adjudicate  faithfully  between  the  claims  of 
Righteousness  on  the  one  side  and  Mercy  on 
the  other?  Not  so.  It  makes  him  weakly 
indulgent  rather  than  mercifully  kind. 

It  has  been  well  remarked  that  there  are  two 
classes  of  men  quite  unfitted  for  being  judges 
of  others :  those  who  have  never  been  tempted, 
and  those  who  have  fallen.  Men  who  feel  no 
temptation  whatever  to  certain  sins  are   often 


84     COMFORT   OF   CHRIST'S   SYMPATHY 

severest  in  condemning  those  in  whom  the 
tendency  to  these  sins  is  strong.  They  are  un- 
merciful because  they  have  never  been  tempted. 
But  men  who  have  fallen  before  temptation  are 
equally  unfit  to  show  mercy.  They  are  lenient 
enough,  but  it  is  not  a  holy  leniency,  only  a 
weak  indulgence.  Their  maxim  is,  "  Human 
nature  is  terribly  weak  and  terribly  corrupt ; 
sin  can  hardly  be  helped ;  we  must  say  little 
about  sin,  and  take  men  as  they  are."  There  is 
only  One  who  can  hold  the  balance  steady 
between  unfair  severity  and  unholy  leniency ; 
because,  though  He  felt  temptation's  power,  He 
came  forth  from  it  unsubdued :  and  hence  it  is 
that  God  has  "  committed  all  judgment "  to 
Christ,  " because  He  is  the  Son  of  Man" 

It  is  infinitely  encouraging  this  thought  of  the 
tempted  but  victorious  Christ.  It  makes  the 
secret  place  of  prayer  a  place  of  trustful  rest 
to  a  weary  sin-tempted  heart.  Going  into  it 
to  speak  to  such  a  Lord,  so  infinitely  holy  and 
yet  so  infinitely  tender ;  our  Judge  and  yet  our 
Saviour,  our  King  and  yet  our  Priest ;  Divine, 
and  therefore    able    to    read  us    thoroughly — 


FELT  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD      85 

human,  and  therefore  able  to  sympathise  with 
us  all  the  time,  we  can  go  boldly  to  the 
Throne,  and  find  it  not  merely  a  Throne  of 
Justice,  but  a  Throne  of  Compassion,  a  Throne 
of  Grace. 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  A  BROKEN  AND 
CONTRITE  HEART  REALISED  WHEN 
WE   ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD. 


"  Birds  have  on  all  green  trees  their  nest, 
Foxes  their  holes,  and  man  his  bed  : 
All  creatures  have  their  quiet  rest, — 
Thou  hadst  not  where  to  lay  Thy  head. 

And  yet,  Lord,  Thou  didst  come  to  give 

Thy  weary-hearted  children  rest, 

To  bid  the  moummg  sinner  live, 

To  soothe  the  aching,  troubled  breast. 

Oh  I  since  on  earth  Thou  lovest  best 
To  dwell  in  souls  that  mourn  their  sin, 
Come  I  take  Thine  everlasting  rest 
This  broken,  contrite  heart  within  I  " 

Anon. 

"  The  touch  that  heals  the  broken  heart 
Is  never  felt  above  : 
The  angels  know  His  blessedness. 
But  way-worn  hearts  His  love." 

P.  B. 


IX 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  A  BROKEN  AND 
CONTRITE  HEART  REALISED  WHEN 
WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD. 

TF  it  is  when  alone  with  God  that  we  realise 
the  whole  extent  of  our  sinfulness,  till  the 
heart  is  broken  with  the  shame  of  it,  it  is 
there  too  that  we  can  best  hear  the  whisper 
of  peace  from  a  sin-forgiving  God,  by  which 
the  broken  heart  is  healed.  For  we  cannot 
parade  a  broken  heart.  It  shuns  the  unsym- 
pathetic glare  of  day.  If  we  carry  it  on  the 
face,  and  ask  every  one  to  pity  us  because  of 
it,  that  only  proves  that  it  is  not  really  a 
broken  heart  at  all.  But  we  can  tell  the  Divine 
listener  about  it  in  the  secret  place,  and  feel 
that  such  a  heart  "He  will  not  despise."      He 


90   THE  BROKEN  HEART  HEALED 

will  pity  it,  and  heal  it  too.  In  the  secret 
place  we  learn  this  wonderful  fact,  that  a 
broken  heart  is  what  God  delights  to  see  ! 

There  are  not  many  things  He  delights  to 
see  in  a  broken  condition  ;  but  this  is  one  of 
them.  He  has  no  delight  in  seeing  broken 
promises,  or  broken  vows,  or  broken  command- 
ments, or  broken  restraints.  These  are  the 
very  things  He  charges  against  us,  to  prove 
how  sinful  we  are.  But  there  are  some  things 
that  are  best  in  their  broken  condition.  It 
is  from  the  broken  earth  that  the  harvest 
springs,  from  the  broken  cloud  that  the  rain 
distils,  from  the  broken  alabaster-box  that  the 
sweet  perfume  flows.  It  is  by  broken  grain 
that  man  is  fed,  and  by  the  broken  life  of 
Christ  that  everlasting  life  is  ours.  We  sing 
of  Him,  "  Bread  of  the  world  in  mercy  broken." 
His  own  words  are,  "  My  body  broken  for  you." 

When  the  truth  about  everything  now  dark 
is  at  last  revealed,  it  will  be  seen  how  precious 
in  God's  sight  have  been  many  broken  things ; 
how  broken  hopes  for  this  world  led  to  the 
better  hope  of  heaven,  broken  earthly  fortunes 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  91 

to  the  winning  of  eternal  riches,  broken  health 
to  the  heahng  of  the  soul.  But  chief  among 
all  these  precious  things  is  the  broken  heart, 
a  heart  that  has  lost  all  its  hardness  and 
pride,  a  heart  that  is  humbled  to  the  dust  in 
penitence  and  prayer,  a  heart  that  no  longer 
lifts  itself  up  in  self-sufficiency,  but  lies  con- 
trite at  God's  feet,  a  heart  to  which  sin  has 
become  the  most  bitter  of  all  bitter  things,  and 
deliverance  from  sin  the  highest  blessing  of 
which  it  can  conceive. 

What  often  goes  by  the  name  of  heart- 
brokenness  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with 
the  consciousness  of  personal  sin.  It  might 
rather  be  called  heart-wretchedness.  The  spirit 
is  broken  by  the  troubles  and  disappointments 
of  life  ;  but  that  is  all.  There  is  nothing  sancti- 
fying in  a  misery  such  as  that :  often  the  very 
reverse.  It  produces  a  sullen  discontent  which 
sometimes  rises  to  wild  complainings  against 
the  world  and  against  God  Himself.  That  is 
"  the  sorrow  that  worketh  death."  Real  heart- 
brokenness  for  sin  is  a  different  thing 
altogether.       It     "  worketh     repentance     unto 


92   THE  BROKEN  HEART  HEALED 

salvation " ;  it  is  a  "  sickness  that  is  not  unto 
death,  but  for  the  glory  of  God,  that  the  Son 
of  God  may  be  glorified  thereby." 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  "  a  broken  and 
contrite  heart  He  will  not  despise."  How  can 
He  despise  what  He  has  been  at  infinite  pains 
to  bring  about?  The  whole  purpose,  both  of 
His  providential  dealings  outwardly  and  of 
the  strivings  of  His  Spirit  within,  is  just  to 
bring  down  the  hard  self-sufficiency  of  the 
heart  that  rebels  against  His  law,  and  puts 
aside  His  grace ;  and  to  force  from  it  the 
confession,  "  I  am  a  sinner  all  over,  a  sinner 
all  through " :  and  if  He  perseveres  in  this 
work  till  the  result  is  reached  in  a  completely 
*'  broken  and  contrite  heart,"  how  can  He  but 
rejoice  to  hear  its  self-accusations  and  to  see 
its  tears  ? 

It  is  a  wonderful  change  that  comes  over 
any  man  when,  instead  of  flattering  himself 
and  praising  himself  as  he  used  to  do,  he  can 
honestly  speak  of  "  abhorring  himself."  It  is 
a  radical  change  that.  It  is  no  mere  surrender 
of  the  outposts.     It   is   the  fall  of   the  citadel. 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  93 

It  is  not  a  reform  merely ;  it  is  a  revolution, 
and  the  very  revolution  God  has  been  making 
and  waiting  for. 

It  is  a  striking  proof  of  God's  delight  in  a 
broken  heart  that  whenever  He  means  to 
bring  His  largest  and  most  enduring  blessings 
to  any  of  us  He  begins  by  breaking  us  down. 
It  often  costs  much  to  have  this  done.  The 
process  is  pain,  but  the  blessing  is  sure. 

There  is  a  legend  somewhere  which  tells 
how  a  certain  wilful  Franciscan  monk  refused 
most  stubbornly  to  obey  his  superior's  com- 
mands, and  how  a  severe  but  suggestive 
discipline  was  resorted  to,  to  break  down  his 
will.  His  brethren  dug  a  deep  perpendicular 
grave,  placed  him  standing  in  it,  and  began 
to  fill  in  the  earth.  After  a  few  shovelfuls 
were  thrown  in  he  was  asked,  "  Is  your  will 
dead  yet  ?  "  but  there  was  no  response  from 
the  iron  heart.  So  the  burying  process  went 
on,  and  the  same  question  was  repeated  as  the 
earth  reached,  successively,  his  loins,  his  breast, 
his  neck  :  but  the  stubborn  heart  would  give 
no  reply.     Remorselessly  the  earth  was  thrown 


94   THE  BROKEN  HEART  HEALED 

in  again.  It  reached  his  lips.  In  a  few 
moments  more  they  would  have  been  stilled 
for  ever.  But  then  the  iron  will  broke  utterly. 
The  submissive  friar  meekly  answered,  '*  I 
am  dead." 

How  hard  the  discipline  is  that  is  needed  to 
break  down  the  heart  in  penitence  before  its 
God,  many  a  man  from  his  own  experience 
can  tell.  But  it  is  worth  the  pain.  A  breaking 
heart  is  not  a  happy  heart :  but  the  reason  of 
that  is  not  that  some  of  it  is  broken,  but  that 
so  much  of  it  is  still  unbroken  and  whole. 
When  broken  thoroughly,  it  becomes  a  happy 
heart  at  once  :  for — strange  but  true — it  is 
only  when  completely  broken  that  it  is 
completely  healed. 

There  was  a  remarkable  law  connected  with 
the  cleansing  of  the  leper  :  "  The  priest  shall 
consider,  and  behold,  if  the  leprosy  have 
covered  all  the  flesh,  he  shall  pronounce  him 
clean  that  hath  the  plague."  Has  not  that  a 
spiritual  meaning  for  ourselves?  Our  Divine 
Priest  waits  till  our  sense  of  our  own  corrup- 
tion is  so  deep  that  we  confess  "  from  the  sole 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  95 

of  the  foot  even  to  the  head  there  is  no  sound- 
ness in  us,"  before  He  can  say  to  us,  "  Go  in 
peace  and  be  whole  of  thy  plague  "  :  for — 

"  Let  our  debts  be  what  they  may,  however  great  or  small, 
So   soon   as   we   have   nought   to    pay,   our   Lord   forgives 

us  all  ; 
'Tis  perfect  poverty  alone  that  sets  the  soul  at  large. 
While  we   can   call   one   mite   our   own,  we  have   no   full 

discharge." 

But,  just  as  the  leper  was  "  shut  up  alone  "  when 
this  discovery  of  his  condition  was  made,  it  is 
when  alone  with  ourselves  that  we  come  to 
see  our  utter  sin ;  when  alone  with  God  that 
we  come  to  realise  His  utter  grace,  and  through 
that  grace  to  get  our  instant  release.  So  long 
as  we  forgive  ourselves,  we  are  not  forgiven 
by  the  Lord.  When  we  utterly  condemn  our- 
selves. He  says  to  us,  "  Be  thou  clean." 

It  is  strange  how  men,  with  the  Bible  in 
their  hands,  persist  in  thinking  that  God  will 
accept  what,  a  thousand  times  over,  He  has 
declared,  in  the  plainest  terms.  He  cannot 
accept.  There  are  multitudes  of  professedly 
religious  men,  who,  if  they  gave  an  absolutely 
honest  statement  of  their  hopes  for  the  here- 


96   THE  BROKEN  HEART  HEALED 

after,  would  point  complacently  to  their  general 
uprightness,  tbeir  freedom  from  gross  sins,  the 
kindly  affections  of  their  social  and  domestic 
life.  They  really  go  to  God  with  a  claim  of 
right  founded  on  virtues  which  half  the  tomb- 
stones of  the  world  attribute  to  all  that  sleep 
beneath  them  !  They  never  had  any  deep  sense 
of  personal  sin,  never  uttered  a  really  heart- 
broken cry  for  pardon,  never  were  disturbed 
for  an  hour  by  any  self-condemnation ;  and 
yet  they  have  no  doubt  of  a  rightful  place  in 
God's  heaven  at  last.  What  a  terrible  surprise 
to  such  men  will  be  the  first  moment  after 
death — when  they  find  that  that  heaven  is 
filled  only  with  broken  hearts,  and  a  broken 
heart   is   a  thing  they  never  knew. 

Why  has  God  such  delight  in  the  broken 
heart  ?  First,  because  He  gets  His  right  place 
within  it,  the  only  place  He  will  ever  consent 
to  fill.  Secondly,  because  Christ  is  adequately 
valued  only  by  the  broken  heart.  What  a 
glory  weeping  eyes  can  see  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
and  Calvary  !  The  poor  broken-hearted  thief 
upon  the  Cross  saw  more  in  Him  than  all  the 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  97 

self-satisfied    scribes    and    Pharisees    could  do. 

"  He  came,"  says  Pascal,  "  to  heal  the  sick  and 

let    the    healthy    die."      Thirdly,    because    the 

Word    of    Life    is    so   precious   to   the   broken 

heart.      "  I   have    learned   more    within    these 

curtains  than  from  all  the  books  I  ever  read," 

said  Richard  Cecil  on  his  bed  of  suffering :  and 

why  ?    just    because   he   read   the   Bible   there, 

not  as   a  critic,  nor   as   a   controversialist,  nor 

even  as  a  minister  for  the  sake  of  others,  but 

simply    as    a    sinner,    a    broken-hearted    man. 

And  fourthly,  because  as  the  Hearer  of  prayer 

"  the    Lord    is    nigh    to   them    that    are    of    a 

broken  heart."     There  are  no  prayers  like  the 

prayers   of   the   broken   heart.      No   "  princes " 

have  such  "  power  with  God  "  as  broken-hearted 

men.      Jacob,  in   one   night   of   broken-hearted 

wrestling  with  God,  gained  more  than  he   had 

gained  by  the  feebler  prayers  of  half  a  century. 

One  great  defect,  surely,  in  the  religion  of  the 

day  is  that  there  is  not  enough  of  the  broken 

heart  in  it.       Oh  for  more !   and,   in   order  to 

that    a    larger    acquaintance    with    the    secret 

place    where    God,    in    showing    us    ourselves, 

shows  us  Himself  as  well. 

8 


A  BURDENED  CONSCIENCE  SOONEST 
GETS  RELIEF  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 


*'  Thy  works,  not  mine,  0  Christ, 
Speak  gladness  to  this  heart; 
They  tell  me  all  is  done, 
They  bid  my  fears  depart. 

Thy  Cross,  not  mine,  0  Christ, 
Has  borne  the  awful  load 
Of  sins,  that  none  in  earth 
Or  heaven  could  bear  but  God. 

Thy  death,  not  mine,  0  Christ, 
Has  paid  the  ransom  due ; 
Ten  thousand  deaths  like  mine 
Would  have  been  all  too  few. 
To  whom  save  Thee, 
Who  can  alone 
For  sins  atone. 
Lord,  shall  I  flee  ?  " 

H.    BONAK. 

"  0  my  Redeemer,  who  for  me  wast  slain, 
Thou  bringest  me  forgiveness  and  release ; 
Thy  death  has  ransomed  me  to  God  again, 
And  now  my  heart  can  rest  in  perfect  peace." 

Spitta. 


X 


A  BURDENED  CONSCIENCE  SOONEST 
GETS  RELIEF  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 

TF  it  delights  God  to  see  a  thoroughly  broken 
heart  bending  low  before  Him,  to  heal 
that  broken  heart  delights  Him  yet  more : 
and  so,  into  the  secret  place  where  we  wait 
to  hear  His  voice,  He  comes  and  says,  "  When 
men  are  cast  down,  thou  shalt  say,  there  is 
lifting  up,"  and  He  shows  us  what  the  up- 
lifting is. 

It  was  when  the  troubled  company  of  con- 
science-stricken disciples  were  within  the  shut 
doors  of  the  upper  room  that  the  Risen  Lord 
came  in  and  said,  "  Peace  be  unto  you."  That 
was   a  wonderful  greeting,  for  they  were   not 

101 


102    TROUBLED  CONSCIENCE  PACIFIED 

merely  in  terror  of  their  lives ;  they  were  in 
remorse  of  conscience  for  their  cowardly  for- 
saking of  Him ;  and  He  meant  it  not  merely 
to  calm  their  human  fears,  but  to  bring  them 
such  joyful  news  as  had  never  gladdened  them 
before.  He  was  speaking  to  them  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Cross  than  the  one  they  were 
thinking  of,  from  the  heavenly  side  both  of 
the  Cross  and  of  the  grave  :  speaking  not  merely 
as  the  absent  Friend  who  had  come  again  to 
them,  and  come  without  any  upbraiding  of 
them  for  their  sin,  but  as  the  Great  Conqueror 
who  had  overcome,  and  whose  triumphant 
"It  is  finished  "  had  laid  the  foundation  for  a 
peace  between  them  and  God  which  nothing 
evermore  could  shake.  His  message,  "  Peace 
be  unto  you,"  was  far  more  than  just  a  kindly 
greeting.  It  meant,  "I  have  made  full  atone- 
ment for  you  on  the  Cross,  and  the  atonement 
has  been  ratified  in  heaven,  for  I  am  risen 
from  the  dead ;  I  bring  you  peace  with  God, 
and  assure  you  of  it." 

In  the  quiet  of  the  shut  doors  of  our  homes 
and  hearts   He    brings   the   same    message    to 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  103 

those  who  long  to  hear  it.  It  is  often  the 
very  message  we  most  need  to  hear.  For  we 
so  often  and  so  easily  lose  the  sense  of  peace 
with  God.  We  fall  under  the  power  of 
temptation,  and  darkness  comes  between  ns 
and  Him.  We  feel  our  sins  to  be  great 
barriers  between  Him  and  us  that  we  cannot 
overleap.  It  will  not  do  to  silence  our  con- 
sciences. They  only  speak  the  louder  for  the 
attempt  to  smother  them :  and  there  is  an 
infinite  difference  between  a  conscience  'pacified 
and  a  conscience  merely  benumbed.  The  deep 
cry  of  the  broken  heart  is  not  for  cosmetics 
to  give  the  appearance  of  health,  but  for  a 
cure  that  will  reach  the  very  seat  of  the  evil, 
and  purge  it  thoroughly.  And  God  meets  the 
cry,  just  by  bringing  us  back  to  the  siin- 
plicities  of  the  Gospel  of  His  grace.  There  is 
no  other  way. 

Any  peace  that  does  not  honestly  face  our 
personal  guilt,  that  either  ignores  it,  or  denies 
it,  or  excuses  it,  is  not  worth  seeking  for.  It 
cannot  last.  For  the  very  first  condition  of 
peace  between   us   and   God  is  a  settlement  of 


104    TROUBLED  CONSCIENCE  PACIFIED 

His  controversy  with  us  about  our  personal 
sin :  and  till  we  get  that  sin  forgiven,  can- 
celled, put  out  of  the  way,  His  controversy 
with  us  must  go  on.  But  sin  can  be  forgiven 
only  at  the  Cross  of  Christ.  The  only  answer 
to  a  guilty  conscience  is,  "  Christ  has  died " : 
and  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  message  is  its 
pointing  to  that  one  glorious  fact,  and  telling 
us  that  if  we  want  peace  with  God  we  must 
think  not  of  some  righteousness  of  our  own  to 
be  made  by  constant  effort  as  perfect  as  we 
can  make  it  to  be,  but  of  the  already  per- 
fect Righteousness  of  God's  Christ  which  may 
be  ours  for  the  taking,  if  only  we  stretch  out 
for  it  an  absolutely  empty  hand. 

John  Bunyan  tells  how,  walking  alone  in 
the  fields,  crushed  by  the  misery  of  an  accusing 
conscience,  he  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  above 
him  that  said,  "  The  Lord  our  Righteousness  " 
— and  how,  immediately,  the  thought  flashed 
into  his  troubled  soul,  "It  is  righteousness  God 
wants  in  me  to  take  me  into  heaven ;  well,  if 
Christ  is  my  righteousness,  then  my  righteous- 
ness has  been   in  heaven,   and    God   has   been 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  105 

looking  at  it,  for  sixteen  hundred  years  " ;  and  so 
he  came  out  of  the  darkness  into  the  light  of 
a  perfect  peace.  It  is  only  so  that  peace  can 
come  to  any  man :  for  what  God  gives  us 
through  His  Son  is  not  salvability  merely,  but 
actual  salvation;  not  just  the  hope  of  acquittal 
hereafter,  but  full  acquittal  here  and  now, 
immediate  peace  through  "  the  one  sacrifice  for 
sins  for  ever"  offered  on  the  Cross. 

We  need  to  be  continually  going  back  to 
that  Cross  to  read  the  fourth  inscription 
written  on  it.  For  there  were  four,  though 
Pilate  intended  there  should  be  only  three. 
He  wrote,  in  contempt  for  the  Crucified,  a 
threefold  inscription  which  was  visible  to 
every  passer  -  by :  but  all  the  time  God's 
unseen  hand  was  writing  a  fourth  inscription 
there  in  eternal  praise  of  the  Crucified,  but 
which  only  the  eyes  of  faith  can  see.  Millions 
have  gazed  upon  the  Cross  as  it  blazed  on 
splendid  altars,  or  glittered  on  priestly  robes, 
or  shone  on  cathedral  spires,  and  yet  have 
not  seen  this  Divine  inscription  on  it.  Millions 
have  marched  to  battle  under  the  standard  of 


106    TROUBLED  CONSCIENCE   PACIFIED 

the  Cross,  and  yet  have  not  seen  it.  Millions 
wear  the  Cross  as  an  ornament  upon  their 
dress,  and  yet  do  not  see  it.  But  to  the  eye 
of  faith  it  stands  out  as  clear  as  the  rainbow 
did  against  the  cloud  of  judgment:  and  that 
Divine  inscription  is  the  one  foundation  of  all 
our  peace.  It  is  this,  "God,  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  to  Himself,  not  imputing 
their  trespasses  unto  them,"  "  making  Him  to 
be  sin  for  them  who  knew  no  sin,  that  they 
might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
Him." 

There  is  certainly  more  in  the  Gospel  than 
just  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross  :  but  that  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  all  else.  And  though  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  we  ought  to  get  beyond 
the  Cross,  even  as  Christ  did,  and  rise  like 
Him  into  new  and  free  and  glorious  life,  there 
is  also  a  sense  in  which  we  can  never  get 
beyond  the  Cross,  but  must  come  back  to  it, 
and  linger  at  it,  again,  yet  again,  if  our  peace 
is  to  be  full.  It  is  a  simple  truth  this,  too 
simple  for  many,  but  in  its  very  simplicity 
lies  its  power. 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  107 

It  is  good  for  us  to  look  much  at  the  living 
Christ.      We     do     not    look    at    Him    nearly- 
enough    as   an    Example    and    a    Friend.     But 
our   soul's   rest   must   still   be   the   sacrifice    of 
Calvary.     A  stimulus   to  holiness  we   can   find 
in    His    life :    the    cleansing   of  our   conscience 
we     can     find     only     in     His     "Blood."      The 
Crucified   Christ    must    be  the   Alpha  and   the 
Omega  of  all  our  peace  with  God.     To  live  in 
settled   peace  with    Him  we    have    to    do  with 
the  "  atoning  blood  of  Christ "  what  Rahab  did 
with    the    scarlet    cord    that   was    to    her    the 
pledge  of  safety — so  place  it  that  wherever  we 
may  look  it  may  meet  the   eye.     She  fastened 
the   scarlet   cord   in   the  window  of  her  house, 
and  could  not  look  out  in  any  direction  with- 
out looking  across  it.     Let  us  place  the  atoning 
blood     in    the   window    of    the    soul,    so    that, 
whether  we  look   earthwards   or  heavenwards, 
it    may    every    day    remind     us    wherein     our 
peace  with  God  must  lie  ;  the  great  atonement 
made  on  Calvary,  once  for  all. 

There  are  few  professed  Christians  to  whom 
Christ's  atonement  is  not  something,  but  fewer 


108    TROUBLED  CONSCIENCE  PACIFIED 

still  to  whom,  as  the  basis  of  hope,  it  is  all. 
Some  make  Gods  of  their  own.  Some  make 
Christs  of  their  own.  And  some  make  half- 
Christs.  They  make  Saviours,  or  half -Saviours, 
of  their  repentances,  their  good  resolves,  their 
benevolences,  their  integrity,  their  prayers. 
As  they  lie  on  dying  beds  they  look  over 
their  past  lives,  not  completely  satisfied,  but 
half  satisfied :  and,  scraping  together  all  the 
good  they  can  find  in  themselves,  they  bring 
in  Christ  to  eke  out  their  deficiencies  and 
make  up  the  rest. 

How  many  have  yet  to  learn  that  a  half- 
Christ  will  not  do — have  yet  to  learn  to  spell 
"works"  and  "grace"  without  mingling  the 
letters — have  yet  to  learn  that  the  "  robe  of 
righteousness"  is  not  patchwork,  partly  theirs 
and  partly  His,  but  must  be  His  alone  !  The 
message  of  the  Gospel  is  not  that  Christ  came 
to  help  the  weak  or  subsidise  the  imperfect,  but 
"  to  save  the  lost."  And  if  it  is  one  glory  of 
the  Gospel  that  it  tells  of  salvation  "  ivithout 
money"  it  is  an  equal  glory  of  the  Gospel 
that     it     tells     of     salvation     tcithout     delay. 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  109 

"  Being  justified  by  faith  we  have  peace  with 
God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

The  same  Cross  that  shows  the  exceeding 
awfulness  of  sin,  since  no  blood  could  expiate 
it,  and  no  death  pardon  it,  but  the  blood  and 
death  of  God's  own  Sinless  and  Beloved  Son, 
shows  also  the  exceeding  riches  of  His  grace 
that  asks  no  penance  from  us  ere  forgiveness 
comes,  but  pardons  freely  and  pardons  at 
once.  And  thus  the  Cross  makes  us  at  once 
the  lowliest  and  the  joyfullest  of  men — lowly, 
because  our  sin  we  never  can  forget,  joyful 
because  God  has  forgotten  it  for  ever. 

"Now  when  Christian  came  up  to  the  Cross, 
his  burden  loosed  from  off  his  shoulders,  and 
fell  from  off  his  back,  and  tumbled  into  the 
sepulchre,  and  he  saw  it  no  more.  Then  he 
gave  three  leaps  of  joy,  and  went  on,  singing — 

"  '  Blest  Cross  I  Blest  sepulchre !  blest  rather  be 
The  Man  that  there  was  put  to  shame  for  me.'  " 


THE  TROUBLED  HEART  COMES  QUICKLY 
TO  QUIET  REST  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 


Lord,  gather  from  the  regions  dim  and  far, 

Desires  and  thoughts  that  wander  far  from  Thee ; 

To  home  and  rest  lead  on,  0  guiding  star, — 
No  other  home  or  rest  but  God  for  me ! 

To  Thee  my  heart  as  incense  shall  arise. 
Consumed  upon  Thine  altar  all  my  will ; 

Love,  praise,  and  peace,  an  evening  sacrifice. 
In  Thee,  my  Lord,  I  rest,  and  I  am  still." 

Terstbegen. 

"  O'er  the  waves  that  cannot  rest, 
O'er  the  drifting  foam. 
Wandering  dove  without  a  nest, 
Weary-winged  I  come. 

Still  and  sweet  the  silence  deep 

Where  no  foot  hath  trod ; 

Softer  than  an  infant's  sleep 

Is  my  rest  in  God." 

Teestbbgen. 


XI 


THE  TROUBLED  HEART  COMES  QUICKLY 
TO  QUIET  REST  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 

A  VERY  beautiful  name  is  given  to  Christ 
when  He  is  called  "The  Lord  of  Peace." 
He  is  the  Great  Peacemaker,  for  He  has 
"  made  peace  by  the  blood  of  His  Cross "  ;  and 
He  is  also  the  Great  Peacegiver,  for  He  says, 
"  My  peace  I  give  unto  you."  Bringing  to  us, 
first  of  all,  peace  of  conscience,  and  teaching 
us  how  to  look  up  to  God  without  fear.  He 
brings  us,  next,  peace  of  heart,  and  teaches  us 
how  to  look  out  upon  the  world  without  fear. 
By  His  Cross  He  makes  us  satisfied  with 
God's  way  of  saving  us  ;  by  His  life  He  teaches 
us    to   be   equally  satisfied  with   God's   way  of 

9  "3 


114    THE  TROUBLED  HEART  FINDS  REST 

training  us.  He  brings  us  into  His  own 
perfect  calm  by  showing  us  how  to  live,  as  He 
Himself  always  did,  with  an  absolutely  un- 
questioning trust  in  a  Heavenly  Father's  love. 

Those  hours  and  even  days  of  restless  worry 
and  anxiety  about  earthly  things  that  so  often 
come  to  us — how  utterly  unlike  they  are  to  the 
habitual  feelings  of  Jesus  Christ !  Not  one 
single  instance  can  we  find  in  which  He  sought 
to  have  His  earthly  lot  changed  from  what  His 
Father  had  appointed  it  to  be,  or  complained 
because  He  could  not  change  it,  or  made 
Himself  miserable  by  anticipating  the  sorrows 
that  were  lying  in  front  and  ready  to  fall. 

We  are  constantly  criticising  God.  Christ 
never  did.  Even  though  not  actually  criticising 
Him,  we  are  yet  constantly  imagining  that 
things  might,  somehow,  have  been  better 
arranged  for  us  than  they  are.  When  any 
crushing  sorrow  falls  upon  us,  the  rebellious 
heart,  if  not  the  lips,  will  say,  "I  could  have 
borne  this  if  it  had  only  come  to  me  at  some 
other  time — if  it  had  come  alone,  instead  of 
being  accompanied  by  so  many  other  depress- 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  115 

ing  circumstances — if  it  had  been  of  a  different 
kind,  failure  in  my  business  instead  of  failure 
in  my  health,  a  stroke  upon  myself  instead  of 
upon  my  child,  the  loss  of  some  other  friend 
than  just  that  one  that  was  the  best-beloved 
of  all,"  and  so  on  through  a  hundred  supposi- 
tions of  what  might  have  been  better  arranged. 
How  seldom  do  we  realise  the  faithlessness 
that  is  in  such  a  mood  of  soul  as  this  ! 

But  we  may  come  to  realise  it,  and  escape 
from  it  too,  if,  in  the  secret  of  His  presence, 
alone  with  Him,  we  lay  our  burdens  at  His 
feet  and  listen  for  His  words  of  peace.  For,  as 
we  listen,  He  will  tell  us  much. 

He  will  tell  us  that  the  whole  explanation 
of  the  severity  of  the  trial  (in  our  view  of  it) 
is  that  our  desires  and  His  purposes  are  not 
moving  in  the  same  line,  that  we  have  not 
the  same  idea  of  life  that  He  has,  otherwise 
there  would  be  no  disa^ypointment  in  us  with 
the  pain  that  life  may  bring ;  that  if  we  are 
making  it  our  chief  aim  in  life  just  to  have  a 
prosperous  time  of  self-indulgence,  while  His 
aim    is    to    train   us,   all    along    life's   way,    to 


116    THE  TROUBLED  HEART  FINDS  REST 

holiness  of  character  and  heavenliness  of  spirit, 
there  is  sure  to  be  collision  everywhere 
between  our  wills  and  His,  and  that  not  till 
this  coUision  ceases  can  we  get  the  peace  we 
long  to  know. 

He  will  tell  us,  therefore,  that  what  we  need 
is  not  that  the  world  should  be  changed  to 
us,  but  that  we  should  be  changed  to  it ;  that, 
in  all  our  plans  and  ambitions,  we  should  no 
longer  put  first  what  He  puts  only  second, 
and  no  longer  put  second  what  He  puts  first 
and  wants  us  to  put  first  as  well :  that  it  is  a 
complete  change  of  centre  that  is  needed,  and 
that  where  that  change  is  made  there  will  be 
an  instant  change  all  round  the  circumference 
too. 

In  the  secret  of  His  presence  He  will  tell  us 
more.  He  will  tell  us  that  if  we  rebel  against 
our  trials  it  is  only  because  we  do  not  see  His 
planned  issue  of  them  in  our  greater  good : 
that  they  are  only  a  Great  Refiner's  fire  for 
the  purifying  of  His  gold,  a  Great  Vine-dresser's 
knife  for  increasing  the  fruitfulness  of  His 
vines.     He  will  whisper  to   our  crushed  hearts 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  117 

in  the  secret  place,  "What  I  do  thou  knowest 
not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 

It  is  only  the  eye  of  the  sculptor  that  can 
see  beforehand  the  finished  statue  in  the  rough 
marble-block ;  but  he  does  see  it,  and  all  the 
strokes  of  his  tools  are  meant  to  bring  out  to 
the  eyes  of  others  what  is  already  clear  to  his 
own.  And  the  strokes  of  God's  hand  are  only 
to  produce  the  perfect  beauty  of  the  soul,  and 
make  that  as  visible  to  others  as  it  now  is  to 
Himself.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that 
we  will  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  His  work 
when  we  see  it  finished.  Why  should  we  not 
be  satisfied  now  when  He  tells  us  what  a 
glorious  finish  He  will  make,  and  leave  to  Him 
the  choosing  of  the  tools  ? 

Very  beautifully  was  this  thought  once 
pressed  home  on  one  who  was  in  acute  distress 
because  of  a  long  succession  of  calamities, 
when,  happening  to  visit  a  ribbon-weaving 
factory,  he  was  shown  a  new  machine  for 
producing  fabrics  finer  than  any  seen  before. 
He  examined  it  carefully  ;  but,  skilled  mechani- 
cian though  he  was,  he   could  not   understand 


118    THE  TROUBLED  HEART  FINDS  REST 

how  the  work  was  done.  Finding  that  all  the 
movements  of  wheels  and  levers  and  threads 
were  controlled  by  some  arrangement  in  a 
central  box  kept  closely  shut,  he  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  look  inside,  but  was  told,  "  The 
master  keeps  the  key."  These  simple  words 
were  like  a  flash  of  heavenly  light  into  his 
darkened  soul.  "  Here  is  my  life,"  he  thought, 
"  full  of  what  seems  to  me  inextricable  con- 
fusion ;  what  the  meaning  of  its  cross-purposes 
may  be  I  cannot  tell :  but  if  in  me  the  Divinely 
perfect  pattern  is  at  last  wrought  out,  I  need 
not  ask  on  what  principle  my  God  is  fashion- 
ing me  for  His  glory,  "My  Master  keeps  the 
key." 

Perhaps,  if  all  were  known,  it  would  be 
found  that  the  majority  of  trustful  disciples 
in  every  age  were  made  so  by  means  of  the 
heavy  afflictions  and  sadnesses  of  life ;  God 
darkening  the  glory  of  this  world  to  force 
them  gently  to  look  to  a  glory  that  is  not  of 
this  world  at  all.  "Tears  are  our  telescopes 
to  let  us  see  farther  into  heaven."  God  washes 
the    eyes    with    tears    till    they   can    look    un- 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  119 

dazzled  on  the  land  where  tears  are  known  no 
more. 

Then,  once  again,  the  Lord  will  remind  us 
in  the  secret  place  that  exemption  from  suffer- 
ing is  not  what  He  ever  promised  us,  but  only 
victory  over  it,  and  sanctification  by  it,  and 
peace  along  with  it :  and  therefore  exemption 
from  it  would  be  a  loss  and  not  a  gain ;  for 
as  it  is  the  water  that  dashes  against  the 
mill-wheel  that  keeps  the  mill  in  motion,  the 
incessantly  beating  trials  of  life  keep  grace  in 
the  soul  alive.  It  is  said  that  migrating 
birds,  preparing  to  wing  their  flight  to  summer 
climes,  wait  for  a  wind  that  blows  against 
them,  for  that  assists  them  to  rise  to  the 
needed  elevation ;  and  the  things  of  which  we 
often  say,  "All  these  things  are  against  me," 
are  the  things  of  which  God  says,  "They  are 
meant  to  help  you  to  soar." 

The  one  universal  heart's  ease,  therefore,  is 
to  let  a  loving  God  take  His  own  wise  way 
with  us.  Doing  this  willingly,  we  will  no 
longer  torment  ourselves  with  speculations  as 
to   how  our   sorrows  have  come,  or   why  they 


120    THE  TROUBLED  HEART  FINDS  REST 

have  been  permitted  to  take  the  special  form 
that  makes  them  so  hard  to  bear.  Our  only 
feeling  will  be  the  feeling  of  Christ  Himself, 
whose  peace  we  have  come  to  share,  "  The  cup 
which  My  Father  hath  given  Me,  shall  I  not 
drink  it?" 

Our  gracious  God  promises  us  more  than 
sympathy  alone  when  we  lay  our  sorrows  at 
His  feet :  He  promises  us  help  as  well.  But 
we  must  leave  to  Him  the  way  of  helping  us. 
Many  a  time  we  distress  ourselves  needlessly 
by  refusing  to  rise  above  our  fears  till  we  see 
ho^v  the  help  is  to  come,  and  in  what  precise 
way  we  may  look  for  an  answer  to  our 
prayers.  We  want  God  to  explain  to  us  the 
secrets  of  His  working  before  we  feel  certain 
that  He  will  make  things  go  right.  But  there 
is  something  better  than  understanding  God, 
and  that  is,  trusting  Him.  He  does  not 
promise  to  explain  Himself.  He  does  promise 
to  reveal  Himself :  but  He  never  reveals  Him- 
self except  to  an  absolute  trust. 

When  a  little  child  awakes  at  midnight, 
startled  and  crying  because  of  sounds  it  knows 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  121 

not  the  meaning  of,  how  is  it  comforted  and 
pacified?  Is  it  by  a  scientific  explanation  of 
the  sounds?  by  a  lesson  in  meteorology  or 
natural  history?  Is  it  not  rather  by  the 
mother  taking  her  trembling  little  one  into 
her  arms,  and  soothing  it  there  to  sleep,  till  it 
thinks  no  more  of  the  sounds  that  troubled 
it,  or  of  any  explanation  of  the  sounds,  but 
only  of  the  mother  in  whose  sheltering 
embrace    it    lies? 

So  God  takes  up  each  trembling  child  of 
His,  and  makes  it  feel  safe  simply  because 
He  is  holding  it :  and  what  comforts  it  is  not 
what  it  knows  about  its  troubles,  or  about 
the  way  in  which  the  trouble  will  be  kept  at 
bay,  but  what  it  knows  about  Him  in  whose 
strong  and  loving  arms  it  lies  enwrapped.  In 
this  there  is  infinite  peace.  It  is  just  by 
drawing  us  to  Himself  in  absolute  trust  that 
He  changes  our  restlessness  into  rest :  and 
the  calming  whispers  of  His  love  can  be  heard 
nowhere  so  distinctly  as  in  the  secret  place  of 
quiet  fellowship,  where  we  are  alone  with 
Him.  The  oftener  we  are  there,  the  more  of 
His  peace  we  shall  know. 


WE  RISE  INTO  FELLOWSHIP  WITH 
THINGS  UNSEEN  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 


"  Hath  not  each  heart  a  passion  and  a  dream, 
Each,  some  companionship  for  ever  sweet, 
And  each,  in  saddest  skies  some  silver  gleam, 
And  each,  some  passing  joy  too  faint  and  fleet, 
And  each,  a  staff  and  stay,  though  frail  it  prove, 
And  each,  a  face  he  fain  would  ever  see  ? 

And  what  have  I  ? — a  glory  and  a  calm, 
A  Ufe  that  is  an  everlasting  psalm, 
A  heaven  of  endless    oy  in  Thee." 

Tkrsteegbn. 


XII 


WE  RISE  INTO  FELLOWSHIP  WITH 
THINGS  UNSEEN  WHEN  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 

■yT  is  good  to  do  this,  even  for  a  single  hour. 
It  gives  us  a  loftier  view  of  the  great 
purpose  of  life,  and  a  calmer  view  of  the 
discipline  of  life.  It  shows  us  the  infinite 
compensations  that  take  the  sting  out  of 
the  sorrows  of  life ;  and  it  is  the  only  thing 
that  can  do  it.  Sequestered  thus  from  the 
"pride  of  man,"  and  from  "the  strife  of 
tongues,"  we  learn  to  feel  about  everything 
as  Christ  felt,  who  lived  habitually  above  all 
the  ordinary  ambitions  of  men,  and  accepted 
the  deepest  humiliations  of  life  as  willingly 
as   a  worldly  heart  would  accept  a  throne. 

125 


126    FELLOWSHIP  WITH  THINGS  UNSEEN 

It  is  one  of  the  choicest  blessings  of  the 
secret  place  where  we  are  alone  with  God, 
that  there  we  can  so  fully  enter  into  fellow- 
ship with  the  Unseen ;  a  fellowship  that 
enshrines  the  very  root-idea  of  the  Christian 
life.  What  is  a  Christian?  Can  a  better 
answer  to  that  question  be  found  than  this  : 
"  He  is  one  who  is  living  by  faith  on  an 
unseen  Saviour,  who  surrenders  himself  abso- 
lutely to  the  dominion  of  an  unseen  Lord, 
who  acknowledges  the  mastery  of  an  unseen 
hope,  who  yields  himself  to  the  attraction 
of  an   unseen  power"? 

And  yet  how  difficult  it  is  to  live  in  the 
realm  of  unseen  things !  The  remoter  attrac- 
tion of  the  unseen  is  neutralised  by  the 
nearer  attraction  of  the  seen.  The  needle  of 
a  ship's  compass  is  so  adjusted  that  it  may 
swing  free  of  the  attraction  of  its  immediate 
surroundings,  and,  by  being  unaffected  by 
the  motion  of  the  vessel,  may  respond  to 
the  control  of  an  unseen  power,  the  great 
magnetic  current  that  runs  from  pole  to 
pole.       It    is    meant    to    yield    itself    to    this 


k  WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  127 

unseen  power  alone ;  but  it  can  respond  to 
the  unseen  only  when  loose  to  the  seen. 
And  what  our  souls  need  is  such  an  adjust- 
ment of  their  relations  to  the  world  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  heaven  upon  the  other, 
that,  be  the  fluctuations  of  their  immediate 
environment  what  these  may,  they  will  re- 
spond easily  to  the  great  attraction  of  the 
skies. 

But  this  is  not  habitually  the  case,  even 
with  good  men.  They  are  like  a  compass  so 
rigidly  bolted  to  the  timbers  of  the  ship  that 
every  movement  of  the  vessel  seriously  affects 
it.  When  the  sea  of  life  is  calm — in  the 
hush  of  Sabbath  rest,  in  the  sanctuary  of 
worship,  in  the  chamber  of  prayer,  in  times 
of  good  health  and  outward  prosperity — the 
needle  points  right  enough  to  God  and  heaven. 
But  sorrows  come,  disappointments  come, 
reverses  of  fortune  come,  sickness  comes, 
temptation  comes,  and  immediately  all  is 
wrong ;  the  needle  points  neither  to  faith, 
nor  patience,  nor  peace.  Their  Christian 
graces    come   out    only   "weather    permitting." 


128    FELLOWSHIP  WITH  THINGS  UNSEEN 

Their  souls  have  indeed  been  touched  by  the 
Divine  magnetism,  but  that  influence  does 
not  get  free  play.  What  they  need  is  that 
their  too  firm  attachment  to  things  seen 
should  remorselessly  be  broken,  so  that  the 
power  of  the  unseen  may  be  free  to  act ; 
and  where  can  this  connection  with  earth 
be  more  effectively  cut  than  in  the  stillness 
of  the  soul  when  alone  with  God,  and  the 
world   is   for   the   time   shut   entirely   out? 

The  value  of  this  absolute  surrender  to 
the  unseen  is  found  most  emphatically  when 
trouble  of  any  kind  has  to  be  met  and 
overcome.  Surely  the  great  Apostle  was 
sitting  quietly  alone  with  God  when  he 
looked  out  upon  the  seething  tribulations  of 
his  life,  and  said,  "None  of  these  things 
move  me."  Surely  he  was  very  near  to  God 
when  he  wrote  down  his  triumphant  verdict 
upon  the  sufferings  of  his  lot,  "  Our  light 
affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment  worketh 
for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,  while  we  look  not  to  the 
things   that  are   seen,  but   to   the   things   that 


WHEN   ALONE   WITH   GOD  129 

are  not  seen ;  for  the  things  that  are  seen 
are  temporal,  but  the  things  that  are  not 
seen   are   eternal." 

Christian  men  of  an  earnestly  spiritual 
type  are  sometimes  accused  of  too  much 
"  other- worldliness  " ;  of  living  too  much 
among  unseen  and  eternal  things,  despising 
things  seen  and  temporal.  The  truer  charge 
against  most  Christians  would  be  that  they 
have  too  much  of  "present  worldliness,"  that 
they  do  not  think  half  enough  of  the  eternal 
that  so  far  transcends  the  temporal.  One  of  the 
ancient  philosophers  divided  men  into  "  earthly  " 
and  "  winged  "  souls.  Alas  1  the  "  earthly " 
souls  are  many,  and  the  "  winged  "  souls  few. 
Accused  of  soaring !  God  pity  us  that  we 
so  seldom  soar  at  all,  and  never  high  enough. 
Even  Paul  could  not  always  soar.  Even  he 
could  not  always  feel  his  sufferings  to  be 
"  light,  and  only  for  a  moment."  He  could 
do  that  only  "  while  he  looked  to  the  things 
unseen  and  eternal."  God's  all-sufficing  peace 
can  come  into  us  in  no  other  way.  If  this 
steady   look   to    things   above   is   wanting,   our 

10 


130    FELLOWSHIP  WITH  THINGS  UNSEEN 

looking  at  things  below  will  be  either  terribly 
dispiriting  or  terribly  ensnaring. 

But  the  clear  upward  look  enabled  him  to 
reverse  entirely  the  judgments  he  would 
naturally  have  passed  on  things  below.  What 
he  would  naturally  have  called  heavy,  he 
calls  "  light "  ;  what  he  would  otherwise  have 
fainted  under  because  seeming  never  to  end, 
he  calls  "  but  for  a  moment " ;  what  might 
have  been  thought  only  a  visionary  hope,  a 
phantasm  of  the  imagination,  a  dream,  he 
calls  a  "  weight  of  glory."  And  he  can  scarce 
find  words  to  express  his  full  sense  of  its 
greatness ;  it  is  for  him  not  only  "  glory," 
but  "a  weight  of  glory,"  "an  exceeding 
weight  of  glory,"  "a  more  exceeding  weight 
of  glory,"  "a  far  more  exceeding  weight  of 
glory,"  "a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory."  The  scales  of  the  balance 
in  which  he  weighs  his  troubles  and  his 
compensations  are  not  in  equipoise.  One  of 
them  is  immeasurably  heavier  than  the  other; 
and  so  he  feels  that  "  the  sufferings  of  the 
present     time    are    not     ivorthy     to    be    com- 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  131 

pared  with  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed 
in  us." 

Could  we  but  let  into  our  souls  the 
grandeur  of  this  thought,  our  conclusion 
would  be  just  what  Paul's  conclusion  was — 
that  all  passionately  absorbing  pursuit  of 
earthly  honours,  distinctions,  gains,  is  not, 
as  it  is  commonly  held  to  be,  a  wise  thing, 
but  supremely  foolish,  for  "  the  things  which 
are  seen  are  only  temporal " ;  and  that  the 
intensest  pursuit  of  spiritual  riches  is  not, 
as  the  world  reckons  it  to  be,  a  foolish 
thing,  but  supremely  wise,  for  "  the  things 
that  are  unseen  are  eternal." 

If  at  any  time  we  are  planning  great 
things  for  ourselves,  laying  out  our  future, 
so  as  to  secure  for  ourselves  something  like 
a  paradise  below,  we  have  but  to  remember 
that  *'  the  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal," 
and  that  will  sober  our  poor  ambitions  at 
once.  If  we  are  mourning  too  dejectedly 
over  losses  in  the  past,  casting  regretful 
looks  upon  vanished  joys  till  a  spirit  of 
bitterness  almost  crushes  faith,  we  have  only 


132    FELLOWSHIP  WITH  THINGS  UNSEEN 

to  remember  again  that  "the  things  seen 
are  temporal,"  and  that  will  reconcile  us  to 
their  loss.  We  have  but  to  write  under  our 
longest  list  of  earthly  treasures,  either  lost 
in  the  past,  or  possessed  in  the  present,  or 
expected  in  the  future,  the  one  word  "  tem- 
poral," and  the  almost  magical  effect  of 
realising  that  fact  will  be  a  quick  killing 
both  of  our  foolish  ambitions  and  of  our 
sinful  regrets.  And  if,  going  on  to  write 
out  another  and  a  brighter  catalogue  of  the 
things  that  God  has  prepared  for  us,  and  is 
keeping  for  us,  to  be  given  us  in  due  time, 
we  put  under  it  or  over  it  the  one  word 
"  eternal,"  the  magical  effect  of  realising  that 
fact  will  be  the  perfect  peace  that  keeps 
both  heart  and  mind,  enabling  us  to  say, 
"Well,  if  God  is  going  to  give  us  so  much 
that  is  glorious  ere  long,  we  may  willingly 
let  Him  send  us  a  little  that  is  grievous 
now." 

We  need  often  to  do  in  secret  fellowship 
with  God  what  every  prudent  man  of  business 
does  frequently  when  alone  with  his   books — 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  133 

make  out  a  spiritual  balance-sheet,  a  careful 
profit-and-loss  account.  Vague  impressions  of 
our  spiritual  solvency  should  never  content 
us.  We  ought,  for  our  heart's  peace,  to  have 
the  matter  made  absolutely  clear.  This  was 
what  Paul  evidently  did,  for  we  hear  him 
say,  "  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this 
present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  the  glory  that  is  to  be  revealed."  "I 
have  made  the  calculation,"  he  says,  "  I 
have  patiently  worked  it  out."  He  does  not 
say,  '•  I  believe  that  that  is  so " ;  or,  "  I  take 
for  granted  that  it  may  be  so " ;  or,  "  I  am 
trying  hard  to  feel  that  it  is  so."  But  he  says, 
"  I  have  accurately  estimated  all  the  elements 
of  the  case,  I  have  set  the  eternal  over 
against  the  temporal  in  every  possible  light, 
and  by  rigid  reckoning  I  find  this  to  be  the 
result.  I  have  brought  Divine  arithmetic  to 
bear  upon  the  case,  and  I  am  as  completely 
sure  of  the  accuracy  of  my  conclusion  as  I 
am  that  two  and  two  make  four."  If  this 
were  to  us  also,  not  a  conjecture  merely,  or 
a    hope,    but    a    conviction    founded    upon    a 


134    FELLOWSHIP  WITH  THINGS  UNSEEN 

calm  and  deliberate  calculation,  the  conviction 
would  be  a  triumph,  and  the  triumph  would 
be  a  song. 

And  there  is  really  no  place  where  the 
great  calculation  can  be  so  easily  and  so 
unerringly  made,  as  the  secret  place  of  fellow- 
ship with  unseen  things,  where  we  are  alone 
with  God. 


WE  CAN  HEAR  MOST  DISTINCTLY  THE 
WITNESS  OF  THE  SPIRIT  WHEN 
ALONE    WITH    GOD 


"  Come  to  our  poor  nature's  night 
With  Thy  blessed  inward  Ught, 
Holy  Ghost  the  Infinite, 

Comforter  Divine! 

Like  the  dew  Thy  peace  distil, 
Guide,  subdue  our  wayward  will. 
Things  of  Christ  unfolduig  stUl, 

Comforter  Divine  1 

In  us  '  Abba,  Father  I '  cry, 
Earnest  of  our  bhss  on  high, 
Seal  of  immortality. 

Comforter  Divine  I  " 

Eev.  G.  Rawson. 

'Why  should  the  children  of  a  king 

Go  mourning  all  their  days? 
Great  Comforter  I  descend,  and  bring 
Some  tokens  of  Thy  grace. 

Assure  my  conscience  of  her  part 

In  the  Redeemer's  blood ; 
And  bear  Thy  witness  with  my  heart 

That  I  am  born  of  God." 

IsA.\c  Watts. 


XIII 

WE  CAN  HEAR  MOST  DISTINCTLY  THE 
WITNESS  OF  THE  SPIRIT  WHEN 
ALONE    WITH  GOD. 

nriHE  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  low,  and 
can  be  heard  distinctly  only  in  the  silence 
of  the  soul.  It  is  always  a  "  still  small  voice," 
easily  lost  amid  the  clamour  of  the  noisy 
world.  But  we  need  to  hear  it.  However 
varied  and  even  unwelcome  sometimes  its 
messages  may  be,  we  need  to  hear  them  all : 
but  He  will  speak  to  us  words  of  comfort 
only  if  we  do  not  turn  away  when  He  speaks 
words  of  warning  and  reproof. 

Sometimes  He  speaks  to  us  in  our  indifference 
as  a  "  Spirit  of  judgment,"  convincing  us  of 
our  sins.     Sometimes  He  is  a   rebuking  Spirit, 

137 


138      THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

making  us  ashamed  of  our  deficiencies,  and 
humbling  us  to  the  dust.  At  other  times  He 
comes  into  our  darkness  as  the  "Spirit  of 
Light " ;  into  our  perplexities  as  the  "  Spirit 
of  Wisdom  "  ;  into  our  ignorance  as  the  "  Spirit 
of  Truth " ;  into  our  fears  as  the  "  Spirit  of 
Peace";  into  our  weakness  as  the  "Spirit 
of  Might " ;  into  our  deadness  as  the  "  Spirit 
of  Life."  As  the  "  Spirit  of  Grace  and  Supplica- 
tion" He  helps  us  to  pray;  as  the  "Anointing 
Spirit "  He  consecrates  and  empowers  us  for 
service  ;  and  as  the  "  Spirit  of  Adoption "  He 
enables  us  to  realise  our  sonship  to  the  Father, 
for  the  "Spirit  Himself  beareth  witness  with 
our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God." 

This  is  one  of  the  most  comforting  and 
gladdening  services  the  Holy  Spirit  renders  us. 
But  what  is  this  "  witnessing  with  our  spirit "  ? 
And  how  is  the  witness  borne?  In  connection 
with  this  subject  there  has  always  been  a  large 
amount  of  mystical  and  even  fanatical  talk ; 
men  who  were  consciously  living  in  gross  sin, 
boasting  that  they  had  an  inward  witness  telling 
them  that  they  were  true  children  of  God.     But 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD    139 

even  without  going  so  perilously  far  as  that, 
many  devout  and  humble  Christians  greatly 
distress  themselves  by  concluding  that  since 
they  never  heard  any  such  voice  proclaiming 
their  sonship,  they  must  be  unworthy  to  hear 
it,  and  cannot  be  the  children  of  God  at  all. 

It  must  be  noted,  therefore,  that  Paul  speaks 
not  of  one  single  witness  testifying  to  us  a 
truth  which  is  to  be  credited  on  that  testimony 
alone,  but  of  two  independent  witnesses,  whose 
united  witness-bearing  can  alone  prove  it  to  be 
a  truth.  He  speaks  of  the  Holy  Spirit  bearing 
witness,  not  to  our  spirit,  but  with  our  spirit : 
and  these  two  really  bear  witness  to  different 
things.  Our  own  spirit  bears  witness  to  facts 
which  we  know,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  bears 
witness  to  the  meaning  of  these  facts. 

As  thus:  I  sit  down  with  the  open  Word 
of  God,  which  shows  me  the  characteristic 
marks  of  a  soul  that  has  been  renewed.  My 
own  spirit  tells  me  that  these  characteristic 
marks  can  be  found  in  me.  I  am  conscious  of 
a  transforming  change  in  feeling  and  in  life. 
Though  I  am  not  all  that  I  ought  to  be,  nor 


140      THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

all  that  I  might  be,  nor  all  that  I  hope  to  be, 
still  I  am  very  different  from  what  I  once  was. 
My  affections  Godward  are  changed  for  the 
better,  ray  ambitions  are  changed,  my  life,  too, 
is  greatly  changed.  Sin  does  not  gratify  me 
as  once  it  did.  The  world  does  not  satisfy  me 
as  once  it  did.  New  emotions  are  now  stirring 
within  me,  new  longings  take  possession  of  me. 
The  Bible  is  a  delight.  Prayer  is  a  joy.  I  long 
for  holiness  as  I  never  used  to  do.  I  surrender 
myself  to  Christ  as  once  I  never  did.  He  is 
really  all  to  me.  I  can  conceive  no  higher 
blessedness  than  to  be  with  Him  and  like  Him 
for  ever.  These  are  simple  facts  of  my  own 
experience  and  consciousness.  I  know  them 
to  be  so.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  interprets  to 
me  the  meaning  of  these  facts.  It  is  that  I 
have  been  "  born  again,"  for  *'  all  things  are 
new."  And  thus  He  "  bears  witness  with  my 
spirit"  that  I  am  a  child  of   God. 

This  is  really  the  whole  secret  of  "  assurance 
of  salvation."  There  is  nothing  mystical  in  it. 
By  the  new  Godward  feelings  that  stir  within 
ourselves  we  come  to  realise  our  true  relation- 


WHEN  WE   ARE   ALONE  WITH  GOD    Ul 

ship  to  Him  who  has  been  the  sole  Author 
of  them  all.  We  know  the  fact  of  our  sonship 
because  the  feelings  of  sonship  are  within  us, 
even  though  we  have  sorrowfully  to  confess 
that  our  filial  love  and  filial  trust  and  filial 
obedience  fall  lamentably  short  of  what  they 
ought  to  be. 

The  case  is  this :  if  I  want  to  know  whether 
God  is  calling  me  one  of  His  sons,  I  ask  myself, 
"  Can  I  look  up  confidingly  and  call  Him  my 
Father,  feeling  Him  to  be  so  indeed?"  If  I 
want  to  know  what  His  feelings  towards  me 
are,  I  ask  myself,  "  What  are  my  feelings 
towards  Him?  Can  I  look  up  into  His  face 
with  the  joy  of  a  trustful  child  and  say,  'Abba, 
Father '  ? "  That  was  how  Jesus  felt.  But  if 
"  Abba,  Father "  was  the  cry  of  the  Son,  it  is 
also  the  cry  within  me  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
Son,  for  He  puts  it  into  my  heart  to  say  the 
same.  I  can  never  say  that,  in  all  the  fulness 
and  intensity  of  its  blessed  meaning,  unless 
He  teaches  me  to  do  it:  and  so  I  am  assured 
of  my  sonship,  not  because  it  is  a  conclusion 
of  my  own  mind,  but  because  all  the  time  that 


142      THE  WITNESS  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

I  am  saying,  almost  tremblingly,  "  I  think  I 
am  a  child  of  God,"  He  whispers  in  my  heart, 
"  You  are  so  in  very  deed." 

This  explains  how  assurance  may  ebb  and 
flow ;  may  be  weaker  at  one  time  and  stronger 
at  another.  If  we  sink  back  or  down  into  any 
kind  of  sin,  either  of  the  flesh  or  of  the  spirit, 
there  can  no  longer  be  an  honest  witness 
within  ourselves  to  our  possession  of  the 
characteristics  of  a  child  of  God ;  and  the  Spirit 
being  "  grieved "  by  our  declension  refuses  to 
bear  witness  to  our  sonship.  His  witness  to 
the  meaning  of  the  characteristics  is  still  the 
same  as  ever;  but  now  that  witness  stands 
alone;  the  witness  of  our  own  hearts  to  the 
possession  of  them  is  silenced ;  "  our  hearts 
condemn  us,  and  we  have  no  confidence  before 
God " :  there  is  no  bearing  witness  loith  our 
spirit  that  we  are  sons. 

The  peace  of  God  within  us  is  a  delicate 
plant,  and  is  easily  killed  by  the  frost  of  sin. 
It  is  a  precious  treasure,  but  is  easily  stolen  by 
the  secret  hand  of  some  thievish  iniquity.  God 
will  indeed  "  speak  peace   to   His  people,"  but 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD    143 

"let  them  not  return  to  folly,"  otherwise  His 
voice  will  be  dumb. 

An  old  writer  says :  "If  any  one  living  an 
unholy  life  were  to  tell  me  that  he  has  an 
inward  Divine  assurance  of  everlasting  life, 
I  would  not  believe  him  though  he  brought 
an  angel  from  heaven  to  corroborate  his 
assertion  ;  for  the  peace  of  God  is  holy  peace, 
and  in  an  unholy  heart  it  cannot  dwell."  If 
God's  commanding  voice  is  not  obeyed.  His 
comforting  voice  will  not  be  heard.  "Grow  in 
holiness,  if  you  want  peace  to  grow  in  you." 

We  thus  see  the  one  cause  of  all  our  dis- 
heartening variations  of  hope.  The  holier  we 
are,  the  stronger  our  assurance  is  :  the  more 
careless  we  are,  the  weaker  it  is.  Only  we 
must  remember  that  it  is  not  the  mere  presence 
of  sin  in  the  heart  that  proves  us  to  be  not 
children  of  God.  It  is  the  persistent  love  of 
sin,  and  its  dominion  over  us,  that  proves  that. 
Sin  lives  in  every  Christian,  but  no  Christian 
willingly  and  habitually  lives  in  sin.  It  may 
be  his  tormentor  and  enslaver,  but  it  is  not 
his   chosen    Lord.     It   is   not  really  a  part   of 


144      THE  WITNESS   OF  THE   SPIRIT 

himself,  but  only  a  hateful  parasite  from  whose 
gnawing  and  enfeebling  presence  he  would  fain 
be  free. 

To  say  that  an  imperfect  or  faulty  Christian 
cannot  be  a  son,  even  though  his  imperfection 
is  a  sore  affliction  to  himself,  is  only  like  saying 
of  a  cripple,  "This  cannot  be  the  heir,  because 
he  is  so  deformed,"  although  the  deformity  is 
to  him  a  daily  pain.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  he  were  not  deformed  as  he  is,  but  full  of 
strength  and  grace,  the  doubt  founded  upon  his 
deformity  would  never  arise.  If  we  were  only 
more  holy,  if  our  likeness  to  the  perfect  Christ 
were  only  more  clear  to  ourselves  as  well  as  to 
others,  it  would  be  more  evident  to  ourselves 
and  to  others  also  that  we  really  belong  to 
Him :  and  the  voice  of  His  Spirit  witnessing 
with  our  own  would  be  more  distinctly  heard. 

For  the  hearing  of  that  voice  there  is  no 
time  like  the  still  hour  when  we  are  alone 
with  God.  If  we  are  often  there,  the  secret 
place  where  we  lay  open  all  the  heart  to  Him 
will  be  a  place  where  deepest  joy  will  mingle 
with   deepest  penitence — "  the   voice   of  rejoic- 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD    145 

ing  and  salvation"  with  "the  voice  of  our 
weeping."  We  shall  assuredly  see  our  sins 
there.  Even  our  "  secret  sins "  will  be  "  set 
in  the  light  of  His  countenance "  there :  but 
He  will  tell  us,  as  we  confess  them  at  His 
feet,  that  they  are  sins  atoned  for,  and  sins 
forgiven;  and  so  "a  peace  that  passeth  under- 
standing will  keep  our  heart  and  mind  by 
Christ  Jesus." 


11 


WE  CAN    BEST   RENEW  OUR    STRENGTH 
BY   BEING  MUCH  ALONE  WITH   GOD 


"  Lord,  what  a  change  within  us  one  short  hour 
Spent  in  Thy  presence  will  prevail  to  make  1 
What  heavy  burdens  from  our  bosoms  take, 
What  parched  grounds  refresh,  as  with  a  shower  I 
We  kneel,  and  all  around  us  seems  to  lower; 
We  rise,  and  all,  the  distant  and  the  near. 
Stands  forth  in  sunny  outline,  brave  and  clear  ; 
We  kneel,  how  weak ! — we  rise,  how  full  of  power ! 
Why,  therefore,  should  we  do  ourselves  this  wrong 
Or  others,  that  we  are  not  strong, 
That  we  are  ever  overborne  with  care, 
That  we  should  ever  weak  or  heartless  be, 
Anxious  or  troubled,  when  with  us  is  prayer. 
And  joy,  and  strength,  and  courage  are  with  Thee  ? " 

Aechbishop  Trench. 


XIV 

WE    CAN   BEST    RENEW   OUR    STRENGTH 
BY    BEING  MUCH  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

"Tp  VERY  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  is  called 
by  His  own  commissioning  and  con- 
secrating words,  to  be  in  the  world  what  He 
Himself  was  from  first  to  last,  a  true  witness 
for  God.  "  I  have  ordained  you  to  go  and 
bring  forth  fruit;"  "As  My  Father  sent  Me, 
so  send  I  you."  We  are  to  bless  the  world 
by  our  very  presence  in  it,  as  well  as  by  our 
labours  for  it.  But  this  we  cannot  do  unless 
our  strength  for  service  is  perpetually  re- 
newed ;  and  it  is  only  from  much  secret  fellow- 
ship with  Christ  that  the  renewing  of  our 
strength  can  come. 

For   He  tells  us   unmistakably  that  for  any 

149 


150  STRENGTH  RENEWED   BY 

union  with  Him  in  service  there  must  first  be 
union  of  life.  He  speaks  of  Himself  as  the 
Vine,  and  of  His  disciples  as  its  branches :  but 
the  whole  fruitfulness  of  the  branches  depends 
upon  the  closeness  of  their  vital  connection 
with  the  Vine.  It  is  the  life  that  is  in  the 
Vine  flowing  freely  and  continuously  into 
them  that  alone  keeps  them  in  a  fruit-bearing 
condition.  If  our  power  as  witnesses  for  God 
in  the  world  is  small,  the  reason  of  that  is 
given  by  the  Lord  Himself,  "  Cut  off  from  Me, 
ye  can  do  nothing."  We  give  out  so  little, 
only  because  we  take  so  little  in. 

The  interdependence  of  the  Vine  and  the 
branches  is  very  wonderful.  Without  the 
branches  the  Vine  can  do  nothijig.  If  His 
disciples  do  not  bear  fruit,  then,  so  far  as  the 
blessing  of  the  world  is  concerned,  He  lives 
in  vain.  But  without  the  Vine  the  bi^anches 
can  do  nothing.  If  they  cease  to  bear  any 
fruit,  or  if  their  fruit  is  poor,  it  is  because  the 
flow  of  His  Divine  life  into  them  has  been 
checked,  or  has  altogether  ceased.  All  that 
the    Vine    possesses    is    for    the     use     of    the 


BEING  ALONE  WITH   GOD  151 

branches.  The  Divine  riches  of  grace  are  not 
stored  up  in  Him  for  Himself,  but  for  them  ; 
to  be  communicated  every  day  and  every  hour 
to  each  separate  branch,  that  it  may  use  them 
for  His  praise,  and  so  prove  the  truth  of  the 
words,  "  From  ME  is  thy  fruit  found."  For 
larger  fruit-bearing,  therefore,  we  must  live  in 
far  closer  and  more  intimate  connection  with 
Christ  than  we  usually  seek. 

There  is  an  expression  used  by  Paul  which 
contains  an  idea  somewhat  unfamiliar  but 
very  suggestive.  He  speaks  of  "growing  into 
Christ."  That  is  more  than  growing  into  the 
likeness  of  Christ.  It  is  growing  into  in- 
creasing closeness  of  personal  union  to  Christ. 
The  whole  Christian  life  is  a  growing  out  oj 
Christ,  as  the  branch  grows  out  of  the  stem : 
but  that  outward  growth  is  conditioned  by, 
and  proportioned  to,  an  inward  growth,  a 
growth  farther  into  Christ,  as  the  branch,  the 
farther  out  it  grows,  grows  also  farther  in, 
its  fibres  taking  ever  a  firmer  hold  of  the 
stem.  There  is  a  deepening  of  their  insertion, 
as  well  as  an  extension   of  their  spread.     But 


152  STRENGTH  RENEWED  BY 

this  constant  deepening  of  connection  with 
Christ,  who  is  our  life,  is  a  secret  thing,  a 
process  unseen  by  any  eye  except  God's.  Our 
outward  growth  and  fruit  bearing  are  the  only 
things  that  can  be  seen  of  men :  but  where- 
ever  this  outward  growth  is,  it  is  the  result 
of  an  inner  process  that  cannot  be  seen,  the 
soul  taking,  in  secret,  an  ever  firmer  hold  of 
Christ,  becoming  more  and  more  closely  bound 
to  Him  by  faith  and  love,  and  so  receiving 
more  uninterruptedly  the  power  for  serving 
Him.  That  process  is  one  that  always  goes 
on  best  in  our  secret  hours  of  heart-fellowship 
with  the  Lord  :  indeed,  it  can  hardly  well  go 
on  anywhere  else.  Were  it  continuously  going 
on,  what  mighty  Christians  we  might  be- 
come ! 

It  may  be  taken  as  an  axiom  in  the  Christian 
life  that  all  our  best  and  most  strengthening 
experiences  come  to  us  when  alone  with  God. 
Jacob  was  thus  alone  when,  at  Peniel,  he 
wrestled  with  the  angel,  and  got  his  new  name, 
Israel,  and  could  then  go  out  to  meet  his 
angry  brother  Esau  without  any  fear. 


BEING  ALONE  WITH  GOD  153 

Moses  was  alone  with  God  in  the  Midian 
desert,  when  the  voice  of  the  Great  I  AM  com- 
missioned him  and  fitted  him  to  be  the  leader 
of  his  whole  nation  out  of  bondage  into  rest. 
It  was  also  from  lonely  fellowship  with  God 
in  "  the  secret  place  of  thundering "  on  Sinai's 
top,  that  he  brought  away  the  wondrous  glory 
on  his  shining  face  that  awed  the  people  into 
obedience  to  Him  from  whose  radiant  Presence 
he  so  unmistakably  had  come. 

Elijah  was  alone  with  God  at  Horeb  when, 
after  being  humbled  to  the  dust,  he  was  girt 
with  a  strength  for  his  great  work  such  as 
he  never  had  before. 

It  was  when  alone  with  God  in  the  silent 
spaces  of  the  Syrian  deserts  that  John  the 
Baptist  was  endowed  with  the  wondrous 
power  that  made  his  preaching  of  repentance 
bend  the  multitudes  as  trees  are  bent  by  a 
winter's  gale. 

It  was  in  the  still  deeper  solitudes  of  Arabia 
that  Paul,  alone  with  God,  away  from  all  dis- 
turbing old  associations,  away  from  all  human 
teaching,   listening  only   to   the   voice   of  God, 


154  STRENGTH  RENEWED  BY 

was  trained  to  become  the  noblest  Apostle  of 
the  Cross. 

It  was  in  the  solitude  of  intercourse  with 
Christ  on  the  Isle  of  Patnios,  that  the  beloved 
disciple  John  got  his  wondrous  visions  of  things 
to  come.  Shut  out  from  the  noisy  world  by 
the  dividing  sea,  shut  in  with  Christ,  he  saw 
what  no  other  eye  had  ever  seen,  and  heard 
what  no  other  ear  could  hear. 

And  was  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  prepared 
for  His  great  redeeming  work,  not  only  by 
those  forty  days  in  the  wilderness  where  He 
was  "alone  with  the  wild  beasts,"  but  also  by 
His  continuously-sought  fellowship  with  the 
Father  on  lonely  mountain-tops  in  the  silence 
of  the  night,  "  the  morning  star  finding  Him 
where  the  evening  star  had  left  Him  —  on 
bended   knees"? 

To  us  also  all  our  best  experiences  come 
when  we  are  alone  with  God.  There  are 
sorrows  which  we  can  surmount  in  no  other 
place.  Grief  is  of  many  kinds,  but  all  grief 
that  is  really  terrible  and  heart-crushing  sends 
us    into    speechless    solitude    to    weep     it    out 


BEING  ALONE  WITH  GOD  155 

upon  the  heart  of  God.     There  are  temptations 
which  can  be  overcome  only  when  alone  with 
Him.     The  fight  with   the   great  adversary   is 
a  single  combat  after  all.     And  there  are  deep 
joys  that   can   come  into  us   only  when    alone 
with  God,  the  joy  of   feeling  Christ's  personal 
love,   the    joy   of    finding    His    strength    made 
perfect  in   our  weakness,  the   joy   of   bringing 
our  empty  vessels  to  the  Divine  fulness  of  His 
grace,   waiting    till    he  fills  them,   and    seeing 
them  overflow.     For  quickening  faith,  intensi- 
fying   love,    and    renewing    strength,    there    is 
no    place    like   "the   secret  of    His    Presence." 
Strange  and  sad  that  we  do  not  seek  it  more ! 
For  the  strength  will  not  come   to   us  with- 
out our  going   deep  to  find  it.      A  few  hasty 
and  lazy  prayers  will  never  bring   it   into   us. 
We  need   deep  communion   with   Christ  if  we 
are  to   get  it  at  all.      There   is   no   part   of   a 
tree   so   invisible   as   its   roots :   but  none  more 
essential   to   its   growth   and  f ruitfulness :   and 
just  as  the  visible  condition  of  the  tree  is  an 
unfailing  index  of  what  the  unseen   roots  are 
doing,  our  visible  lives  will  soon  tell  whether 


156  STRENGTH   RENEWED  BY 

or  not  our  invisible  roots  are  going  deep :  for 
dryness  below  ground  soon  means  deadness 
above  ground. 

Jeremiah  explains  the  vigour  and  fruitful- 
ness  of  God's  trees  by  a  most  suggestive  meta- 
phor, "They  send  forth  their  roots  to  the 
river."  God  provides  the  water :  and  there  is 
more  than  enough  of  it  for  our  need :  it  is 
a  "  river " — but  we  have  to  "  send  forth  our 
roots"  in  search  of  it.  Large  trees  can  sur- 
vive a  drought  that  withers  smaller  ones, 
because  their  roots  go  deep,  and  find  sources 
of  moisture  that  are  never  dry  :  and  a  strong, 
well-nourished  Christian  is  proof  against 
temptations  and  trials  that  wither  feebler 
souls,  just  because  his  roots  go  deep  into  the 
water  of  life.  He  draws  strength  out  of 
deep  heart-intercourse  with  God,  out  of  the 
secret  study  of  the  Word,  out  of  private 
prayer ;  but  these  things  he  has  to  seek :  he 
must  go  in  search  of  the  water,  for  the  water 
will  not  come   to   him. 

There  is  a  celebrated  vine  at  Hampton 
Court  that    for   many   years   disappointed    the 


BEING  ALONE  WITH  GOD  157 

gardener's  hopes.  It  was  quite  healthy,  but 
there  were  few  grapes.  One  year,  however, 
it  was  unexpectedly  laden  with  clusters  of  the 
finest  fruit.  Seeking  to  discover  the  cause  of 
this,  the  gardener  laid  bare  its  roots,  and 
traced  their  ramifications,  and  found  that  they 
had  suddenly  gone  through  the  banks  into  the 
river  Thames.  It  had  "  sent  forth  its  roots  to 
the  river,"  and  thenceforth  "ceased  not  from 
yielding  fruit."  That  is  a  parable  for  all  of  us. 
If  we  are  to  bear  fruit  in  large  abundance 
we  must  get  access  to  the  hidden  resources  of 
God's  grace  that  are  waiting  for  us  to  tap — 
and  that  is  a  secret  process,  a  secret  between 
us  and  God  alone.  Without  this  deep  fellow- 
ship, this  secret  communion  with  the  Unseen, 
there  will  be  no  growth  for  any  of  us :  but 
with  this,  and  because  of  this,  there  will  be 
abundant  fruit — fruit  even  to  old  age.  And 
He  who  is  the  Unseen  Giver  of  what  we  un- 
seen receive  will  be  glorified  in  us  who  are 
thus  "enriched  by  Him  unto  all  bountiful- 
ness,  causing  through  us  thanksgiving  unto 
Him." 


WE  ARE  LIFTED  EASILY  ABOVE  LIFE'S 
DISCOURAGEMENTS  WHEN  ALONE 
WITH   GOD 


"  How  good  It  is  when,  weaned  from  all  beside, 
With  God  alone  the  heart  is  satisfied! 
How  good  the  heart's  still  chamber  thus  to  close 

On  all  but  God  alone, 
There,  in  the  sweetness  of  His  love  repose, 

His  love  unknown ! 
To  hear  His  voice  amid  the  stillness  blest. 
And  lay  me  down  upon  His  arm  to  rest !  " 

Tersteegen. 


XV 


WE  ARE  LIFTED  EASILY  ABOVE  LIFE'S 
DISCOURAGEMENTS  WHEN  ALONE 
WITH   GOD 

rriO  be  always  hopeful  and  courageous  in 
depressing  circumstances  is  not  an  easy 
thing.  The  discipline  of  life  seems  often  very 
hard ;  and  we  rebel  against  it,  not  because  of 
its  hardness  alone,  but  because  much  of  it 
seems  so  unnecessary.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
pettiness  of  our  ordinary  life  that  weighs  us 
down :  and  sometimes  it  is  the  disappointing 
ineffectiveness  of  our  efforts  to  serve  God 
worthily.  Our  ordinary  concerns  look  so  poor 
and  mean  that  we  long  to  be  free  from  them, 
so  as  to  spend  life  in  a  nobler  way ;  but  we 
cannot     get     free  :    we     are     chained     to     the 

12  161 


162    LIFE'S  DISCOURAGEMENTS  VANISH 

drudgery  ;  we  cannot  rise.  "  This  endless 
struggle  just  to  live,"  we  say,  "  this  weary 
round  of  uncongenial  work  day  after  day,  this 
endless  buying  and  selling,  this  ceaseless  toil 
of  mere  housekeeping,  this  narrowing  down 
of  my  thoughts  to  the  petty  details  of  food 
and  clothing ;  this  irksome  monotony  of  life, 
where  I  have  the  same  small  things  to  attend 
to  day  after  day,  all  the  year  through,  unable 
to  get  above  them  or  devote  my  energies  to 
loftier  things — why  does  God  tie  me  down  to 
a  life  like  this?  Why  does  He  not  give  me 
work  to  do  in  which  I  could  better  serve 
Him,  and  at  the  same  time  better  satisfy 
my  own  idea  of  what  a  noble  life  ought  to 
be?" 

If  we  take  such  questionings  to  God  in  the 
still  hour  of  meditation  and  prayer,  however, 
we  shall  get  His  answer  to  them  clear  enough, 
just  as  He  gave  it  to  Israel  by  Moses  leng 
ago.  He  will  tell  us  that  what  we  call  the 
drudgery  of  our  common  days  is  meant  to  do 
two  great  things  that  are  absolutely  indis- 
pensable,  first   "  to   humble   us,"  and   next  "  to 


WHEN  WE  ARE   ALONE   WITH  GOD    1G3 

prove   us,   and    to    see   whether   we   will    keep 
His  commandments  or  no." 

It  needs  not  only  Divine  teaching,  but  Divine 
discipline  in  addition  to  the  teaching,  to  make 
us  content  with  faithfulness  in  very  lowly 
things,  instead  of  complaining  that  we  have 
not  greater  things  to  do.  We  are  eager  to 
do  great  things.  Our  pride  and  self-com- 
placency are  flattered  by  our  having  large 
services  demanded  of  us.  And  God  under- 
stands us  well,  and  therefore  seeks  to  purge  us 
of  this  pride  by  giving  us  only  common  and 
humble  things  to  do,  that  ostentation  may  not 
tempt  the  heart. 

But  the  discipline  is  also  meant  "to  prove 
us  "  whether  we  will  keep  His  commandments 
or  no  " ;  to  see  whether  we  are  seeking  simply 
to  do  His  will,  and  are  not  pursuing  our  own. 
There  is  hardly  one  man  in  a  thousand  who 
sets  himself  steadily  and  humbly  just  to  do 
the  will  of  God  with  no  ulterior  aims  whatso- 
ever. If  we  all  did  that,  there  would  not  be 
a  single  unhappy  heart  in  the  world !  In  our 
impassioned   longings  for  some  other  kinds  of 


164    LIFE'S  DISCOURAGEMENTS  VANISH 

life  than  what  is  God's  present  will  concern- 
ing us  we  are  living  in  the  region  of  dreams ; 
and  men  are  not  sanctified  by  dreams,  but  by- 
battles.  When  that  old  people  of  Israel  listen- 
ing to  God  at  the  fiery  mount  had  a  bright 
vision  of  the  great  and  noble  life  they  would 
enter  on  ere  long,  they  thrilled  with  devotion 
to  Him,  and  vowed  perfect  obedience  to  His 
will  in  everything.  But  how  long  was  it  till 
they  were  bitterly  complaining  of  the  tire- 
some and  poor  monotony  of  those  wanderings 
in  the  desert  by  which  the  vision  was  to  be 
realised  ?  And  where  are  our  vows  of  obedience 
too  ?  Where  are  our  professions  of  living  only 
according  to  His  will?  To  have  bright  visions 
of  what  a  noble  thing  life  might  be  made  to 
be  is  not  to  make  it  so.  But  all  the  time  we 
are  looking  at  our  dream-pictures,  God  is 
taking  a  better  way  with  us,  though  we  see 
not  what  His  meaning  is — training  us  to 
humble  faithfulness  by  the  seeming  drudgery 
of  commonplace  duties  in  an  uncongenial 
sphere :  and  He  shows  us  this  as  soon  as  we 
get  alone  with  Him. 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD    105 

There  is  another  and  a  keener  discourage- 
ment, too,  over  which  nothing  can  lift  us  so 
easily  and  so  completely  as  a  quiet  talk  with 
God — the  discouragement  arising  not  from  the 
pettiness  of  our  lives,  but  from  our  disappoint- 
ing ineffectiveness  and  want  of  success  in 
working  for  God's  righteousness  in  the  world. 
The  discouragement  grows  often  into  despair, 
and  we  cry,  "Oh  that  I  had  wings  like  a 
dove,  then  would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest ! " 
That  was  the  cry  of  a  thoroughly  dispirited 
man,  yet  not  a  worldly  man,  nor  a  man 
simply  saddened  by  accumulating  sorrows ; 
rather,  a  man  weary  with  the  vain  struggle 
against  the  opposing  forces  of  evil,  a  man 
striving  to  fight  against  the  sin  around  him, 
and  to  put  down  iniquity,  yet  finding  his 
efforts  thwarted  on  every  hand,  and  almost 
giving  up  the  battle  in  despair,  saying  bitterly, 
"I  have  spent  my  strength  for  nought  and  in 
vain.  Can  God  mean  that  His  work  shall  be 
only  pain  to  me  and  defeat  ?  Has  He  nothing 
better  to  give  me  than  this  ? " 

There   are   many   such    hearts    in    the   world 


166    LIFE'S  DISCOURAGEMENTS  VANISH 

to-day;  earnest  Christian  hearts,  zealous  for 
God,  yet  saddened  by  the  feeling  that  all  their 
efforts  are  in  vain ;  not  world-weary,  nor  sin- 
weary,  nor  sorrow-weary,  but  battle-weary ; 
looking  at  the  difficulties  on  every  side, 
thinking  of  their  own  weakness  to  stem  the 
rushing  tide  of  evil,  and  looking  forward  to 
the  long-drawn  fight  that  is  before  them  still, 
till  their  courage  fails,  and  they  shrink  from 
the  depressing  prospect  of  useless  battle  to 
the  very  last.  For  it  is  not  the  sharpness  of 
the  conflict,  but  the  weary  length  of  it,  that 
often  makes  the  heart  give  way.  It  is  the 
never-endingness  of  the  fight,  the  hopelessness 
of  anticipating  any  triumphant  close,  that 
makes  so  many  who  are  really  soldiers  of 
the  King  cry,  "  Oh  that  I  had  wings  like  a 
dove,  to  fly  away  and  be  at  rest!"  and  who 
that  feels  any  true  sympathy  with  Christ  in 
His  mission  to  the  world  can  help  being  some- 
times depressed  by  the  seeming  futility  of  all 
the  means  used  by  faith  and  love  to  gain  the 
world  for  Him? 

But  now  let  this   depression  be  not  nursed 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD    167 

in  the  brooding  mind,  but  taken  into  the  secret 
place  of  communion  with  God,  and  how  soon 
a  different  complexion  is  put  upon  the  circum- 
stances that  cause  it  I  What  has  He  to  say- 
about  it?  What  is  His  answer  to  the  weary 
sigh  ?  It  is  just  to  think  of  Christ.  Who  had 
ever  so  sore  a  fight  as  He,  or  more  dis- 
couragements than  He?  Who  ever  kept  up 
the  fight  to  the  very  last  as  He  ?  It  was  said 
of  Him  before  He  came,  "  He  shall  not  fail 
nor  he  discouraged  till  He  have  set  judgment 
in  the  earth,"  and  He  has  fulfilled  the  pro- 
phecy. He  has  been  waiting  for  His  victory 
for  nineteen  hundred  years,  and  is  waiting  for 
it  yet,  but  waiting  undiscouraged  as  well  as 
undismayed,  "  expecting  till  His  enemies  be 
made  His  footstool."  The  unfailing  and  un- 
fainting  hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ  may 
shame  us  out  of  our  discouragement  while 
following  Him  as  "  fellow- workers  with  Him 
unto  the  Kingdom  of  God."  The  one  answer 
to  all  our  despondency  is — Christ.  If  He  had 
spoken  as  we  so  often  speak,  and  felt  as  we 
so    often    feel;   if    He,    seeing    how    small    His 


168    LIFE'S  DISCOURAGEMENTS  VANISH 

success  was,  had  folded  His  weary  hands 
and  given  up  the  conflict,  what  then?  And 
what  was  His  review  of  His  life  when 
almost  done ?  "I  have  glorified  Thee  upon 
the  earth,  I  have  finished  the  work  Thou 
gavest  me  to  do."  That  was  all,  but  that 
was  enough.  Can  any  of  us  wish  to  be  able 
to  say  more  ?  "  Oh  for  wings,"  we  cry,  "  to 
fly  away  and  be  at  rest ! "  But  if  Christ  had 
said  that,  where  would  our  redemption  have 
been?  Wings  await  us  only  as  they  awaited 
Him — only  when,  like  Him,  we  have  finished 
the  work  given  us  to  do,  and  have  fought  out 
the  battle  to  the  end.  Atmiour  now ;  ivings,  if 
we  are  patient,  we  shall  find  in  due  time. 

Yet,  even  meanwhile,  the  blessings  of  "  wings  " 
is  not  always  denied ;  not  wings  with  which 
to  escape  all  troubles,  but  wings  with  which 
to  rise  above  them.  "  They  that  wait  upon 
the  Lord  shall  mount  up  on  wings  as  eagles ; 
they  shall  run  and  not  be  weary,  they  shall 
walk  and  not  faint."  That  is  not  a  promise 
for  the  far-distant  future.  It  is  a  promise 
for  the   present ;  and   each   part   of   it  will  be 


WHEN  WE   ARE  ALONE   WITH  GOD    169 

at  one  time  or  another,  fulfilled  to  the  "  wait- 
ing "  heart.  There  will  be  soaring  days,  when 
we  get  so  high  above  the  world  that  we  can 
feel  as  if  we  had  parted  company  for  ever 
with  its  sorrows  and  its  temptations,  when  we 
can  not  only  outrun  the  vexations  of  life,  but 
outfly  them,  and  feel  as  if  they  did  not  exist. 
God  means  us  sometimes  to  have  hours  like 
these ;  but  they  are  not  the  ordinary  expe- 
rience even  of  the  best  of  men.  The  ordinary 
experience  is  a  lower,  and  yet  equally  com- 
forting one — the  fulfilment  of  the  other  part 
of  the  promise,  "They  shall  run  and  not  be 
weary ;  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint."  Not 
so  ecstatic  an  experience  as  the  soaring,  but 
quite  as  useful  and  possibly  more  safe,  is  this 
humbler  experience  given  to  those  who  know 
that  they  have  no  might  in  themselves,  and 
wait  for  God's  might  to  strengthen  them. 

And  the  order  of  these  three  promises  is  to 
be  noted  well,  for  they  are  often  fulfilled  to  us 
just  in  that  order  and  no  other.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  the  loftiest  attainment  should  be 
put  first  and  the  lower  last;  but  this  order  is 


170    LIFE'S  DISCOURAGEMENTS  VANISH 

the  true  one  for  all  that.  The  soaring  days 
of  every  Christian  generally  come  at  an  early 
stage.  At  the  wonderful  time  of  his  *'  first 
love,"  his  first  experience  of  the  riches  of 
Divine  grace,  his  conversion  days,  he  often 
rises  wonderfully  high  above  the  world. 
Never,  indeed,  does  he  feel  so  completely 
loosed  from  its  thrall,  never  does  he  rise  to 
such  a  height  both  of  joy  and  of  surrender ; 
his  glowing  feelings  seem  then  to  carry  him 
up  to  the  very  gates  of  heaven. 

But  soon  he  has  to  come  down  from  his 
ecstasies  because  God  calls  him  to  battle  and 
service  below,  and  then  he  learns  to  be  thank- 
ful if  only  he  can  "  run  with  patience  the  race 
set  before  him." 

And  later  still  he  is  humbler  still.  A  larger 
experience  of  the  world  and  of  himself  shows 
him  that  constant  "running"  even  is  a  thing 
he  cannot  keep  up.  He  is  thankful  then  if  he 
can  but  "  walk "  with  God,  leaning  upon  His 
everlasting  arm,  till  he  comes  to  the  dark 
valley  at  the  end  of  the  pilgrim  way,  and 
finds    that    there    is    no    soaring    over    it,    nor 


WHEN   WE   ARE  ALONE   WITH  GOD    171 

running  through  it.  He  is  glad  of  the  Lord's 
staff  to  keep  him  from  falling,  and  will  only- 
say,  "  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no  evil." 
But  as  he  goes  leaning  on  God  he  finds  that 
God's  strength  gives  him  the  victory  as 
completely  as  when   he  was   able   to   soar. 

Now,  the  manifold  discouragements  of  life 
are  sure  to  oppress  us  terribly  so  long  as  we 
are  merely  alone  ivith  ourselves,  and  brooding 
over  them ;  but  they  will  quickly  disappear 
when  we  are  alone  zcith  God;  for  then  we 
look  upon  them  with  His  eyes,  weigh  them 
in  His  balances,  measure  them  by  His  tests  ; 
and  as  we  review  them  in  His  light  there 
comes  into  us  a  great  hope,  a  great  courage, 
and  a  great  peace. 


WE  DISCOVER  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL 
POWER  FOR  SERVICE  WHEN  WE 
ARE    ALONE    WITH    GOD 


"  A  moment  from  this  outward  life, 
Its  service,  self-denial,  strife, 

I  joyfully  retreat : 
My  soul,  through  mtercourse  with  Thee, 
Strengthened,  refreshed,  and  calm  shall  be, 
The  world  again  to  meet." 

"  The  Changed  Cross." 

"  Oh  1  to  be  but  emptier,  lowlier. 
All  unnoticed  and  unknown; 
But  to  God  a  vessel  holier. 
Filled  with  Christ,  and  Christ  alone." 

P.  Gerhardt. 


XVI 

WE  DISCOVER  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL 
POWER  FOR  SERVICE  WHEN  WE 
ARE    ALONE    WITH    GOD 

TF  we  are  discouraged  by  our  conscious  in- 
efficiency  as  witnesses  to  God  and  workers 
for  God  in  the  world,  we  must,  before  all  else, 
discover  the  cause  of  our  inefficiency :  yet  this 
is  what  we  find  it  often  difficult  to  know. 
Our  weakness  we  painfully  feel.  Others  see 
it  as  well  as  ourselves ;  but  what  the  cause 
of  it  may  be,  or  how  to  get  it  removed,  we 
cannot  tell. 

There  is  only  one  place  where  these  questions 
will  be  solved — the  secret  place  where  we  lay 
ourselves  freely  open  to  God's  searching  eye, 
and  where   we   wait  longingly  and   humbly  to 

l'/5 


176  POWER  FOR  SERVICE 

hear  what  He  has  to  say :  and  the  solution 
gained  there  will  probably  be  this,  that,  while 
we  are  complaining  that  we  are  too  weak  to 
do  much  for  God,  He  shows  us  that,  in  reality, 
we  are  too  strong  for  Him  to  use  ;  we  do  not 
feel  weak  enough,  or  so  conscious  of  our  own 
weakness,  as  to  cast  away  every  rag  of  our 
own  self-sufficiency,  and  wait  for  the  power 
of  God  Himself  to  come  upon  us,  and  qualify 
us  for  serving  Him.  We  need  to  have  Divine 
power,  and  not  our  own  human  power,  behind 
all  the  actings  of  the  life,  and  all  the  words 
of  the  lip.  We  need  to  have  this  Divine 
power  pouring  into  us  if  it  is  to  pour  forth 
from  us  again  :  and  this  inpouring  of  Divine 
power  is  given  only  when  we  are  in  stillness 
waiting  for  it,  and  pleading  for  it,  and  claiming 
it  from  the  Lord  according  to  His  promise. 

Let  our  natural  powers  of  mind  or  tongue  be 
what  they  may,  we  are  quite  unfit  for  serving 
God  till  the  power  of  His  Spirit  comes  upon 
us  to  consecrate  the  power  that  belongs  to 
ourselves.  Indeed,  till  this  Divine  power  comes, 
we  have  really   no  power   of  our  own  for  any 


WHEN  WE   ARE   ALONE   WITH  GOD     177 

spiritual  work,  even  the  smallest  and  humblest 
of  all.  But  we  almost  never  realise  this 
thoroughly ;  and  consequently,  it  is  not  our 
weakness  but  our  fancied  strength  that  is  the 
great  hindrance  to  our  being  used  by  God. 
All  dependence  upon  our  own  wisdom,  our 
own  talents,  our  own  intellectual  grasp,  our 
own  powers  of  argument  or  persuasion  or 
appeal,  ignores  the  fundamental  truth  that 
"  our   sufficiency   is   from   Him." 

When  a  steamship  has  grounded  on  the 
sand  bar  at  a  river's  mouth,  its  own  power  is 
valueless  for  moving  it.  So  far  from  helping 
it,  the  energy  of  its  own  machinery  will  only 
strain  and  injure  it.  What  then  ?  It  must 
tcait  for  God's  power,  the  power  of  the  rising 
tide.  That  great  uplifting  force  will  do  easily 
and  quickly  what  its  own  internal  power  cannot 
do ;  and  this  is  but  a  parable  of  human  help- 
lessness waiting  for  the  power  that  is  Divine. 

How  many   a    preacher   knows   that  this   is 

his     only     resource !       How     often,     when     he 

thought  his   prepared  message  as   powerful   as 

reasoning  and  oratory  could  make  it  to  be,  it 

13 


178  POWER  FOR  SERVICE 

was  utterly  useless,  and  had  no  real  spiritual 
effect  on  a  single  hearer's  soul !  but  when  he 
painfully  felt  his  own  utter  weakness,  and 
was  willing  to  be  only  the  channel  along 
which  a  Divine  power  should  flow,  even  though 
his  message  seemed  to  himself  so  poor  that 
he  was  half  ashamed  to  speak  it,  God  did  use 
him  as  he  had  never  been  used  before !  All 
our  natural  powers  can  be  used  mightily  by 
God ;  but  only  when  we  think  nothing  of 
them,  and  surrender  ourselves  to  be  simply  the 
vehicles  of  Divine  power,  letting  God  use  us  as 
He  wills,  content  to  be  even  despised  by  men  if 
He  be  glorified. 

It  may  be  said,  therefore,  with  confidence, 
that  the  cause  of  our  inefficiency  in  God's 
service  is  threefold.  First,  we  are  not  still 
enough  for  God  to  come  to  us.  Secondly,  we 
are  not  empty  enough  for  God  to  fill  us.  Thirdly, 
we  are  not  sanctified  enough  for  God  to  use  and 
honour  us. 

There  are  two  suggestive  Scripture  meta- 
phors, among  many  others,  that  show  this 
very    clearly.       One    of    these    is    that    which 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD     179 

likena  the  coining  down  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  U3  to  the  falling  of  the  dew.  Another  is 
that  which  likens  the  Christian  to  a  vessel 
fashioned  by  the  Lord  Himself,  to  be  filled  by 
Himself,  and  used  in  whatsoever  way  He  Him- 
self may  choose. 

1.  We  need  to  be  still  enough  for  God  to 
come  to  us.  The  gracious  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  falls  upon  the  soul  just  as  the 
dew  falls  in  the  stillness  of  the  night  upon 
the  drooping  plant.  The  plant  cannot  make 
the  dew :  it  can  only  wait  for  it,  and  attract 
it.  The  dew  is  always  close  beside  it,  suspended 
in  the  atmosphere ;  but  it  does  not  fall  unless 
two  conditions  are  fulfilled — the  air  must  he 
still,  and  the  plant  7nust  he  cool.  We  need  much 
quiet  stillness  of  soul  if  the  grace  of  the  Spirit 
is  to  come  down  out  of  heaven  and  revive  us  ; 
and  the  fever-heat  of  life,  too,  must  be  suffered 
to  abate,  for  the  blessed  baptism,  giving  power 
from  on  high,  can  descend  only  when  the  heart 
is  cooled  as  well  as  still. 

2.  Then,  again,  we  need  to  be  empty  enough 
for  God  to  fill  us.     Paul,  writing  to  Timothy, 


180  POWER  FOR  SERVICE 

gives  in  a  beautiful  way  God's  idea  of  what 
every  true  and  faithful  Christian  ought  to  be, 
"a  vessel  unto  honour,  sanctified  and  meet  for 
the  Master's  use,  and  prepared  to  every  good 
work."  The  metaphor  is  a  very  exalting  one, 
but  a  very  humbling  one  as  well.  It  tells  us 
the  high  dignity  to  which  we  are  called — to 
be  "  vessels  to  honour "  in  the  Lord's  "  great 
house."  It  tells  us  what  our  high  service  in 
the  great  house  is  to  be — "  prepared  unto  every 
good  work."  But  it  tells  us  also  what  in  a 
moment  takes  down  any  pride  of  self-suffi- 
ciency— that  we  are  only  "vessels,"  that  God 
fashions  us  as  it  pleases  Him,  and  uses  us  as 
it  pleases  Him,  that  we  have  nothing  of  our 
own,  but  are  merely  His  vehicles  for  receiving 
and  carrying  and  distributing  what  He  fills  us 
with. 

But  the  difficulty  and  the  hindrance  on  our 
side  often  is  that  we  are  not  willing  to  be  this 
and  nothing  more.  We  are  not  always  self- 
emptied  enough  to  let  the  "  Master "  of  the 
"  great  house "  put  into  us  what  He  wills,  and 
use  us  as  He  wills.     It  is  a  wonderful  honour 


WHEN  WE  ARE   ALONE  WITH  GOD     181 

to  be  vessels  in  His  hand.  It  is  altogether 
marvellous  grace  that  can  take  what  were 
once  only  "vessels  of  wrath,"  transform  them 
into  "  vessels  of  mercy,"  and  then  make  of 
these  vessels  of  mercy  "  vessels  to  honour," 
vessels  fit  for  the  noblest  use,  vessels  filled 
with  the  grace  which  they  may  carry  to  other 
souls.  But  do  we  realise  that,  after  all,  we 
are  only  vessels — vessels  of  various  sizes,  some 
of  them  "vessels  of  cups,"  and  others  "vessels 
of  flagons" — vessels  of  different  make,  some  of 
them  plain  and  unadorned,  others  enriched 
with  carving  and  colouring  of  the  finest  kind 
— vessels  of  different  materials,  some  of  "  gold 
and  silver,"  others  of  "  wood  and  earth " — 
vessels  to  be  employed  in  different  ways,  some 
of  larger  usefulness  than  others,  some  con- 
stantly in  use,  others  in  use  only  at  occasional 
times — but  all  of  them  only  vessels,  empty 
vessels  till  He  fills  them,  vessels  to  be  used  by 
Him  in  any  way  He  thinks  best,  or  to  be  laid 
aside  upon  the  shelf  if  He  has  no  present  use 
to  put  them  to?  Do  we  always  realise  and 
consent   to   this?      Do   we   not   sometimes   feel 


182  POWER  FOR  SERVICE 

perfectly  willing  to  be  His  vessels,  if  only  He 
will  make  us  great  enough  and  ornamental 
enough  to  satisfy  ourselves ;  if  only  He  will 
fill  us  with  all  aromatic  spices  instead  of 
common  water ;  but  not  willing  to  be  of 
meaner  make,  or  to  be  used  in  a  less  self- 
glorifying  way? 

3.  We  need  to  be  holy  enough  for  God  to 
honour  us.  "  Vessels  unto  honour  "  are  "  sancti- 
fied "  vessels,  vessels  "  purged "  of  evil  within, 
vessels  hallowed  and  consecrated  for  His  service 
alone.  This  is  the  most  essential  characteristic 
of  all.  How  cain  the  Lord  of  purity  use  un- 
cleansed  vessels  when  He  wants  to  carry  in 
them  the  "pure  water  of  life"  to  some  thirsty 
lip,  or  the  wine  of  the  kingdom  to  some  fainting 
heart  ? 

The  measure  of  our  Christian  power  is  just 
the  measure  of  our  Christian  consecration.  A 
single  unmortified  lust,  whether  of  the  flesh 
or  of  the  spirit,  a  single  besetting  sin  tolerated 
in  heart  or  life,  will  hinder  all  our  usefulness 
to  God,  even  though  we  be  vessels  of  the  most 
beautiful  ornamentation  and  of  the  finest  make. 


WHEN  WE   ARE   ALONE   WITH   GOD     183 

"Take  away  the  dross  from  the  silver,  and 
there  shall  come  forth  a  vessel  for  the  refiner," 
is  one  of  Solomon's  pithy  sayings ;  and  in  its 
spiritual  application  it  goes  very  deep.  Does 
it  not  mean,  "  Take  away  all  conscious  defile- 
ment from  soul  and  life,  and  then,  as  hallowed 
vessels,  God  will  be  able  to  use  you  for  His 
praise "  ?  It  was  a  law  for  ancient  Israel  that 
they  should  "  bring  an  offering  in  a  clean  vessel 
into  the  house  of  the  Lord."  If  unclean,  it 
would  be  only  "  a  vessel  in  which  is  no 
pleasure,"  and  the  offering  within  it  would  not 
be  accepted  at  His  hands.  That  law  is  one 
that  still  stands  unrepealed  in  the  statute-book 
of  Christ. 

These  are  some  of  God's  answers  to  our 
questionings  about  inefficiency  in  service,  and 
they  are  sufficient  to  be  both  a  rebuke  and  a 
stimulus  when  we  listen  to  them  in  the  secret 
place  where  alone  they  can  be  heard.  It  was 
just  at  the  very  time  when  Saul  of  Tarsus  was 
in  the  depths  of  self-condemnation  and  self- 
despair,  utterly  emptied  of  all  his  former  self- 
sufficiency,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  said  of  him  to 


184  POWER  FOR  SERVICE 

Ananias,  "He  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto  Me,  to 
bear  My  name  before  the  Gentiles  and  kings, 
and  the  people  of  Israel."  If  we  could  only 
begin  with  a  self-emptying  as  he  did,  might 
we  not  end  where  he  did  too,  "filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost"? 


OUR  HOLIEST  ASPIRATIONS  ARE  INTEN- 
SIFIED WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 


"  Nearer  yet,  O  Christ,  still  nearer 
To  Thy  heart  of  Love  I 
Lift  me  higher,  knit  me  closer 
To  the  things  above  I 

Fuller  still,  0  Christ,  still  fuller 

Be  my  joy  in  Thee  I 
Stronger  every  day,  still  stronger 

Thy  rich  grace  in  me  I 

Clearer  yet,  0  Christ,  still  clearer 

Be  the  vision  fair 
Of  the  holy  imsoiled  garments 

Saints  in  glory  wearl 

Holier  still,  0  Christ,  still  holier 

Be  my  walk  below  1 
Help  me  onward,  raise  me  upward, 

Liker  them  to  grow. 

Brighter  yet,  O  Christ,  still  brighter 

I  for  Thee  would  shine. 
Make  me  now,  and  make  me  ever, 

Altogether  Thine." 

Anon. 


XVII 

OUR  HOLIEST  ASPIRATIONS  ARE  INTEN- 
SIFIED  WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH 
GOD 

/^NE  of  the  great  discoveries  we  make  when 
^^^  we  rise  for  a  little  while  above  the  blind- 
ing and  depressing  mists  of  life's  anxieties 
and  cares  to  the  serene  pure  air  of  the  moun- 
tain-top in  the  secret  place,  is  that  ordinarily 
we  are  living  much  lower  down  than  we 
might  live  and  ought  to  live;  that  we  do  not 
appropriate  the  fulness  of  God's  grace  as  we 
might  do ;  that  we  might  be  far  happier  and 
far  holier  than  we  generally  are.  It  is  in  the 
quiet  of  the  still  hour  that  we  hear  most 
distinctly  the   call  to  seek  a  higher  life,  a  life 

187 


188    HOLIEST   ASPIRATIONS  INTENSIFIED 

of    higher     experience,    of    higher    aims,    and 
therefore  of  higher  joys. 

We  ought  to  rise  higher  in  experience.  How 
much  of  the  fulness  of  Divine  grace  we  know 
almost  nothing  of  !  How  much  belongs  to  us 
in  Christ  that  we  have  never  claimed  as  per- 
sonally our  own !  To  say  that  it  is  the  privi- 
lege of  every  Christian  to  enjoy  to  the  utmost 
the  blessings  that  flow  to  him  from  his  union 
to  Christ  is  not  to  say  enough.  It  is  more 
than  his  privilege.  It  is  his  duty  as  well. 
We  not  only  may  be,  but  ought  to  be, 
"  strengthened  with  all  might  by  His  Spirit 
in  the  inner  man,"  "abounding  in  hope," 
"kept  in  perfect  peace."  But  do  we  really 
seek  this  ?  Do  we  actually  attain  it  ?  Is  it 
uncharitable  to  say  that  most  Christians  are 
only  barely  alive  ?  Their  spiritual  pulse  is 
feeble ;  their  spiritual  progress  is  slow ;  their 
spiritual  victories  are  few ;  their  spiritual  joys 
are  poor.  There  is  no  vigour  in  their  faith. 
If  they  see  at  all  it  is  only  dimly.  The  full 
sunshine  they  never  know.  The  clouds  hang 
always   low  and  trail  heavily  across  their  sky. 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  189 

This  poor  and  meagre  experience  is  certainly- 
better  than  no  experience  of  grace  at  all ;  just 
as  a  sick  man  is  better  than  a  dead  man. 
But  when  Christ  comes  to  do  His  saving  work 
upon  us,  He  does  not  restore  us  from  death 
to  sickliness ;  He  restores  from  death  to  the 
fulness  of  happy  life.  Why  do  we  not  enjoy 
the  assured  position  He  gives  us  ?  Why  do  we 
walk  so  often  with  drooping  face  and  down- 
cast eye  when  Christ  has  risen  a  Conqueror, 
to  make  us  sharers  in  His  triumph  over  sin 
and  death  and  hell  ?  Looking  upon  our  gloom- 
covered  faces,  listening  to  our  cheerless,  half- 
faithless  tones,  who  would  ever  dream  that 
we  were  the  heirs  of  a  glorious  liberty 
obtained  for  us  by  the  Christ  who  died,  and 
rose  again,  and  lives  for  evermore  ? 

When  Jesus  came  out  of  the  grave  He  did 
not  bring  the  grave-clothes  with  Him.  Lazarus 
did,  and  many  Christians  do.  They  walk  about 
really  "risen,"  but  with  the  smell  of  the 
sepulchre  clinging  to  their  garments.  They 
have  "life,"  but  they  have  not  "liberty."  The 
reality   of  life   they   have,   but   the   joyousness 


190   HOLIEST  ASPIRATIONS  INTENSIFIED 

of  the  new  life  they  do  not  show.  Why 
should  it  be  so?  The  full  peace  He  gives  we 
need  for  our  own  soul's  sake  ;  and  we  need  it 
for  the  sake  of  our  power  to  win  the  world. 
We  cannot  by  our  life  tell  powerfully  upon 
others  if  we  are  only  gasping  for  life  our- 
selves. The  well  of  peace  within  ourselves 
must  be  full  to  the  brim  before  it  can  over- 
flow in  blessing  all  around.  We  cannot  draw 
others  out  of  the  pit  of  gloom  if  we  ourselves, 
though  a  little  higher  up  than  they,  are  still 
trembling  in  precarious  safety  as  we  cling  to 
the  slippery  stones. 

It  is  good  to  be  penitents  at  God's  feet,  but 
it  is  better  to  be  consciously  restored  peni- 
tents lying  in  the  Father's  arms.  Tears  for 
sin  are  good,  but  praise  for  the  Hand  that 
wipes  the  tears  away  is  better.  The  cry  of 
the  publican,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner,"  was  good,  but  the  song  in  his  heart 
as  he  "  went  down  to  his  house  justified " 
was  better  still.  It  is  good  to  "  sit  down  in 
the  lowest  room,"  as  though  unworthy  of  a 
higher  place,  but  better  far  to  hear  the  Master 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  191 

say,  "  Friend,  go  up  higher,"  and  then  "  to  sit 
with  Him  in  heavenly  places "  without  any 
misgiving  as  to  our  right  to  be  there. 

A  large  number  of  earnest -minded  Chris- 
tians do  long  to  be  able  to  rise  to  this,  but 
their  deeply-felt  unworthiness  of  it  is  a  diffi- 
culty they  cannot  surmount.  That  is  just 
because  they  are  living  too  far  from  the 
Christ  in  whom  they  faintly  trust.  If  we 
understood  more  fully  the  reason  of  His  love, 
we  would  see  that  it  is  quite  independent  of 
our  worthiness  to  receive  it.  Discoveries  of 
our  sinfulness  may  take  us  by  surprise,  but  our 
sinfulness  is  no  surprise  to  Him,  He  knew 
from  the  very  first  what  our  unworthiness,  in 
all  its  length  and  breadth,  would  be,  and  yet 
He  loved  us — loved  us  for  reasons  in  Himself 
alone.  So,  then,  if  He  began  to  love  us  for 
His  own  sake,  not  for  ours,  He  can  go  on 
loving  us  for  His  own  sake  still.  If  He  had 
loved  us  at  our  best,  and  came  to  be  dis- 
appointed in  us,  His  love  might  grow  cold  and 
even  cease  altogether.  But  He  loved  us  at  our 
very  worst,  loved  us  when  "  dead  in  sin,"  loved 


192   HOLIEST  ASPIRATIONS  INTENSIFIED 

us  knowing  all  we  would  turn  out  to  be ;  and 
the  one  word  "  grace  "  explains  the  wonderful 
fact.  Our  hope  rests  not  upon  our  own  stead- 
fastness in  faith  and  perseverance  in  holy- 
living,  but  on  unchanging  everlasting  grace ; 
the  same  grace  that  began  in  love  ending  in 
love  as  well. 

We  ought  to  rise  higher  in  expectancy  too. 
"  Grace  after  grace "  is  what  He  promises, 
but  only  "according  to  our  faith"  will  the 
grace  be  given ;  and  they  who  bring  the 
largest  pitchers  to  the  fountain  take  the  largest 
blessing  away.  The  less  we  expect  from  the 
world  the  better ;  the  less  we  expect  from 
ourselves  the  better ;  but  the  more  we  expect 
from  God,  the  richer,  the  holier,  the  happier 
we  are  sure  to  be.  Surely  He  must  take  it  iU 
that  we  expect  so  little  when  He  says,  "Open 
thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it."  We  ought 
to  expect  to  have  every  one  of  His  promises 
fulfilled  to  us,  however  great  it  be  ;  and  what 
we  need  for  that  is  not  a  stronger  faith  so 
much  as  a  faith  that  is  simpler  and  more 
childlike. 


WHEN  ALONE   WITH  GOD  193 

Above  all,  we  need  to  rise  higher  in  fellow- 
ship toith  God.  This  is  "  a  high  hill  as  the  hill 
of  Bashan,"  but  none  can  climb  too  high  upon 
it.  What  a  wonderful  elasticity  of  spirits  is 
felt  by  one  who  has  got  to  the  crown  of 
some  grey  peak !  what  a  feeling  of  utter  calm 
and  of  superiority  to  things  below !  We  pity 
those  who  have  never  felt  the  exhilaration  of 
the  mountain  air.  Any  one  who  gets  high  up 
upon  the  holy  hill  of  fellowship  with  God  is 
sure  to  feel  the  same.  If  the  cares  of  the 
lower  world  disturb  us,  we  have  but  to  climb 
this  hill  and  we  are  at  once  in  the  serene 
calm  of  heaven — a  calm  that  neither  care  nor 
sorrow  can  invade.  If  the  temptations  of  the 
world  overpower  us,  it  is  because  we  are  living 
too  far  down.  If  higher  up  we  wouM  be 
beyond  the  tempter's  voice. 

High    fellowship    with     God    will    make    us 

radiant  too   as  well  as   calm    and    safe.      The 

light    of    heaven    will    linger     longer    on    our 

souls.      In   the  Alps,  when  darkness  has  crept 

down  into  all  the   valleys,  bright  light  can  be 

seen  bathing   the   giant  peaks   that  catch   the 

14 


194     HOLIEST  ASPIRATIONS  INTENSIFIED 

glory  of  the  descending  sun,  and  retain,  when 
lower  ones  have  lost  it,  the  glow  of  its  ex- 
piring flame.  Then,  when  the  glow  has  fled 
from  even  the  loftiest  pinnacles  of  ice,  it  can 
be  seen  reddening  the  clouds  that  are  higher 
yet,  till  they  look  like  the  garments  of  angels 
flung  off  upon  the  golden  sky.  These  also  lose 
their  light  ere  long  ;  but  if  we  could  ascend 
beyond  every  cloud,  and  beyond  the  shadow  of 
the  earth  itself,  we  should  have  the  full  sun- 
shine always  without  a  break. 

So  if  we  want  our  souls  to  be  transfigured, 
and  our  lives  ennobled  by  the  perpetual  sun- 
shine of  God's  presence,  where  no  sorrow  can 
enshroud  us  and  no  sin  can  live,  we  have  but 
to  seek  higher  fellowship  with  Him  in  His 
secret  place,  and  live  more  delightedly  among 
"the  things  that  are  above." 


THE     BREAD     OF     LIFE     IS     SWEETEST 
WHEN  WE    ARE    ALONE    WITH    GOD 


Welcome,  dear  Book  1  souls'  joy  and  food, 
In  thee  the  hidden  stone,  the  manna  lies; 
The  key  that  opens  to  all  mysteries 
The  Word  in  characters,  God  in  the  Voice." 

H.  Vauqhan. 


'  Tree  of  life,  thy  golden-fruited 
Branches  shade  as  well  as  feed, 
By  the  stilly  waters  rooted ; 
And  thy  very  leaves  drop  healing 
Medicine  in  my  hours  of  need. 

When  my  soul  is  vexed  with  sorrow 
Like  a  sea,  it  groweth  calm 
When  thou  speakest ;  Hope's  to-mon-ow 
Cheers  to-day,  and  to  my  trouble 
Thou  art  soothing  balm. 

Paradise  of  fadeless  pleasure. 
Stored  with  mines  of  wealth  untold, 
Ind  is  not  so  full  of  treasure, 
Ophir  is  not  richer :  thou  art 
More  to  me  than  gold." 

Eev.  Richard  Glover. 


XVIII 

THE     BREAD     OF     LIFE     IS     SWEETEST 
WHEN   WE    ARE    ALONE    WITH    GOD 

"T"N  the  secret  place  we  need  to  do  far  more 
than  speak  to  God.  We  need  to  listen  as 
He  speaks  to  us :  and  we  hear  His  voice  in 
the  Sacred  Word  which  conveys  a  message 
from  Him  to  every  one  who  "has  ears  to 
hear."  Do  we  really  prize  this  book  of  God 
as  we  ought?  Do  we  really  know  it?  Do 
we  treat  it  as  He  means  it  to  be  treated? 
Do   we   make   it   our   souls'   daily  food  ? 

Few  things  are  more  amazing  than  the 
ignorance  of  this  blessed  Book  that  is  dis- 
coverable in  thousands  who  call  themselves 
by  the  Christian  name.  It  is  no  breach  of 
charity  to  say  that  there  are  multitudes  in  all 

197 


198    THE  BREAD  OF  LIFE  IS  SWEETEST 

the  Churches  who  never  open  their  Bibles 
except  once  a  week  in  the  house  of  worship, 
and  even  there  betray  by  unmistakable  signs 
how  ignorant  of  its  contents  they  are.  They 
would  be  ashamed  to  be  as  ignorant  of  the 
newspaper  or  of  the  last  novel  as  they  are  of 
the  Word  of  God.  An  allusion  to  Bible-story 
has  more  than  once  set  half  of  the  House  of 
Commons  wondering  where  it  came  from. 
We  can  easily  tell,  when  talking  with  any  one 
about  Divine  things,  whether  he  has  much 
converse  with  the  Divine  Book  or  not.  Men 
of  the  world,  keen,  well-educated,  well-read  in 
current  and  ancient  literature,  skilled  in  many 
abstruse  departments  of  human  research,  often 
make  fools  of  themselves  when  they  talk  about 
spiritual  realities ;  and  that  simply  because 
they  never  read  the  only  book  that  speaks 
authoritatively  about  these  realities.  The 
Bible  is  not  only  a  sealed  book  to  them,  it  is 
like  a  dead  book  altogether. 

These  days  of  ours  are  far  less  Bible-search- 
ing days  than  former  ones,  even  within  our 
recollection,  were.      Religious  literature,  not  to 


WHEN  WE   ARE   ALONE   WITH  GOD     199 

speak  of  secular,  has  come  almost  to  displace 
the  Bible,  even  in  Christian  homes.  Family- 
reading  of  the  Bible,  and  instruction  in  it,  is 
getting  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past;  and  from 
this,  more  than  anything  else,  comes  the 
current  laxity  of  belief  and  of  practice  too. 

We  are  sometimes  told  that  we  make  too 
much  of  the  Bible :  that  we  worship  it  too 
much :  and  that  idolatry  of  the  Bible  is  as 
pernicious  as  idolatry  of  anything  else :  and 
in  saying  this,  it  is  implied  that  this  is  a  too 
common  state  of  things.  But  where  are  they, 
these  idolaters  ?  One  would  like  to  discover 
them,  that  he  might  go  and  live  amongst 
them !  For  most  men  seem  to  make  far  too 
little  of  the  Bible  instead  of  too  much.  They 
read  it  too  little ;  they  study  it  too  little ;  they 
believe  it  too  little ;  they  practise  it  too  little. 
One  would  travel  a  long  way  to  see  a  real 
idolater  of  the  Bible  ;  for  there  are  not  many 
of  them  near  at  hand ! 

To  many  the  Bible  is  merely  an  antiquarian 
museum  of  curiosities ;  to  others  merely  a 
storehouse  of  weapons  for  controversy.     Some 


200    THE  BREAD   OF  LIFE  IS   SWEETEST 

read  it  critically ;  some  read  it  sceptically ; 
some  read  it  mechanically  as  if  performing  a 
task.  How  few  read  it  as  children  in  a  far 
country  listening  to  a  letter  from  home !  If 
it  is  to  be  of  any  real  use  to  us,  we  must 
take  it  as  God  meant  it  to  be  taken,  as  bread 
for  our  hunger  and  water  for  our  thirst,  as 
medicine  for  our  sicknesses  and  balm  for  our 
bruises,  as  a  staff  for  our  weariness,  a  spur 
for  our  indolence,  a  light  for  our  darkness,  a 
comforter  in  our  sadness,  a  polestar  for  our 
wanderings,  a  lamp  for  our  feet. 

Of  all  these  uses  the  most  essential  is  the 
first.  We  need  this  Divine  Word  as  the  food 
by  which  alone  our  spiritual  life  can  be  sus- 
tained and  grow.  Many  an  enfeebled  and 
diseased  condition  of  body  is  accounted  for 
simply  by  "  insufficient  nourishment " ;  and  all 
spiritual  energy  and  even  vitality  depends 
upon  spiritual  nutrition.  Wherever  we  see  a 
feeble  Christian,  we  may  be  sure  he  is  suffer- 
ing from  "lack  of  bread":  and  the  two  things 
needed  for  bodily  nutrition  are  needed  also  for 
the  nutrition  of  the  soul. 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD     201 

One  of  these  is  a  personal  appt^opriation  of 
the  food.  So  long  as  the  food  remains  outside 
of  us — a  thing  to  be  looked  at  and  admired, 
but  not  tasted — it  does  us  no  good.  It  must 
be  taken  m.  "Thy  words  were  found,"  says 
Jeremiah,  "and  I  did  eat  them,  and  they  were 
to  me  the  rejoicing  of  my  heart."  We  cannot 
eat  by  proxy.  Eating  must  be  our  own 
personal  food-appropriating   act. 

Then  follows  a  further  process — the  incor- 
poration of  the  food  with  the  substance  of  the 
bodily  frame.  The  food  converted  into  flesh 
and  blood  reappears  in  the  bright  eye,  the 
healthy  complexion,  the  flexible  muscle,  the 
firm  bone,  the  well-strung  nerves,  the  active 
brain :  and  if  the  Word  of  God  is  really 
appropriated,  it  becomes  incorporated  too,  and 
reappears  in  "love,  joy,  peace,  longsufifering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temper- 
ance," and  all  the  other  characteristics  of  a 
strong  and  healthy  soul. 

All  of  us,  without  exception,  need  daily 
food :  the  old  as  well  as  the  young,  the  strong 
as  well  as  the  weak,  the  king   as  well   as  the 


202    THE  BREAD   OF  LIFE  IS  SWEETEST 

beggar  (for  "  the  king  himself  is  served  by  the 
field "),  the  philosopher  as  well  as  the  child. 
And  the  act  by  which  life  is  nourished  is  as 
simple  in  the  case  of  the  philosopher  as  in 
the  case  of  the  child.  If  the  wise  man  will 
not  stoop  to  that  simple  act,  he  will  die  as 
surely  as  the  child  will  who  refuses  food.  And 
there  is  no  man,  however  learned  or  however 
great,  that  can  keep  in  spiritual  health  for  a 
day  if  he  will  not  nourish  himself  by  the  bread 
that  endureth  to  everlasting  life. 

But  no  hasty,  indifferent,  surface-reading  of 
the  Divine  Book  will  give  any  nourishment  to 
the  soul.  An  ancient  Bible-lover  said,  "I  will 
meditate  upon  Thy  statutes."  That  is  some- 
thing deeper  than  merely  listening  to  them. 
We  need  to  ponder  them  till  they  are  felt  to 
be  distinct  personal  messages  from  God :  and 
as  Augustine  said,  comparing  the  Bible  to  the 
water  of  life,  "  there  are  first  draughts,  and 
second  draughts,  and  third  draughts  of  this 
water  to  be  enjoyed."  It  is  often  only  the 
third,  and  even  the  fourth,  draught  that  proves 
how  sweet  and  how  refreshing  it  is.     But  this 


WHEN  WE   ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD     203 

"  meditation "  needs  silence.  "  Only  in  the 
sacredness  of  silence  does  the  soul  truly  meet 
with  the  secret,  hiding  God,"  the  God  who 
reveals  Himself  in  the  Word,  but  also  veils 
Himself  under  it,  and  can  be  seen  only  when 
the  veil  is  thinned  to  transparency  by  that 
heavenly  light  that,  like  the  mystic  light  of 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  shines  only  in  "the  secret 
place  of  the  Most  High." 

What  "meditation"  does  can  be  seen  in  such 
glad  utterances  as  these :  "  Oh !  how  I  love 
Thy  law ! "  "  It  makes  me  wiser  than  all  my 
teachers."  "It  is  sweeter  to  my  taste  than 
the  honeycomb."  "  It  is  better  to  me  than 
thousands  of  gold  and  silver."  And  every 
humble,  spirit-taught  lover  of  Scripture  still 
will  heartily  echo  these  words.  But  love  for 
the  Word  will  grow  as  our  experience  grows. 
There  is  much  in  it  we  never  see  till  our  own 
experience  of  life  makes  it  a  living  book  to 
us :  and  just  as  a  letter  written  in  "  sym- 
pathetic "  ink  is  illegible  till  exposed  to  the 
heat  of  the  fire,  many  of  God's  wonderful 
messages   are  never  understood  till  the  fire  of 


204    THE   BREAD  OF  LIFE  IS  SWEETEST 

suffering  brings  out  the  message  clearly  to  the 
eye  of  faith.  Many  a  man  has  never  known 
what  the  Bible  can  do  for  him  till  he  has 
taken  it  down  and  read  it  tearfully  on  some 
dark  day  when  the  light  of  his  home  was 
gone,  and  by  the  fireside  there  was  only  an 
empty  chair. 

This  is  our  own  human  experience ;  but  was 
there  ever  one  who  knew  the  Scriptures  better, 
and  more  delighted  in  them  than  Christ  Jesus 
did?  They  were  more  deeply  in  His  heart 
and  oftener  on  His  lips  than  any  other  had 
them  before  or  since.  And  yet  He  never 
possessed  a  copy  of  His  own !  Scarce  any 
child  in  a  Christian  home  but  has  a  Bible  of 
his  own.  We  have  all  our  favourite  copies, 
and  delight  to  mark  them  with  our  private 
marks,  and  carry  them  about  with  us  for 
constant  reference.  Christ  had  no  such  pocket- 
Bible  to  carry  about  with  Him,  and  yet  no  one 
knew  it  as  He  did.  He  had  spent  many  an 
hour  in  the  synagogues  reading  the  copies 
that  were  there,  and  His  holy  memory  did  the 
rest,   till   He   knew   it   so   well    that   He   never 


WHEN   WE   ARE   ALONE   WITH   GOD     205 

hesitated  for  a  moment  in  using  it  either  to 
defeat  His  foes,  or  to  enlighten  His  disciples, 
or  to  comfort  Himself :  and  it  has  been  well 
said  that  "  it  is  peculiarly  enjoyable,  in  reading 
the  Bible,  to  halt  at  some  text,  and  know  for 
certain  by  His  quoting  it,  that  out  of  the  very 
vessel  we  are  raising  to  our  lips  He  Himself 
once  drank  the  living  water." 

If  any  one  could  have  dispensed  with  the 
Scriptures,  He  could,  but  none  ever  lived  upon 
them  more.  He  found  everywhere  in  them 
His  own  portrait  drawn — the  Holy  One,  the 
humbled  One,  the  rejected  One,  the  crucified 
yet  rising  One,  the  suffering  and  thereafter 
glorified  One ;  and  He  gave  Himself  to  fulfil 
all  that  was  written  of  Him  there.  We  too 
must  find  our  portrait  in  the  Scriptures,  the 
picture  of  what  we  are  in  our  deformity  and 
sin,  the  picture  also  of  what  God  means  us, 
through  His  transforming  grace,  to  become : 
and  we  have  to  set  ourselves  to  fulfil  the  high 
ideal  of  a  sanctified  life  that  is  presented 
there.  When  we  use  the  Scriptures  as  Christ 
did,  they  will  do  for  us  what  they  did  for  Him. 


206  THE   BREAD   OF  LIFE 

But  for  this  sanctifying  look  into  the  Divine 
Word  we  do  need  the  quiet  of  a  silent  hour. 
The  full  sweetness  of  the  hidden  manna  can 
be  tasted  only  when  we  are  alone  with  God. 
Reading  and  pondering  it  there,  we  will  find 
that,  whether  as  an  instructor  in  righteous- 
ness or  as  a  comforter  in  sorrow,  it  has  no 
rival  anywhere.  All  other  books  at  last  grow 
insipid  except  this.  It  is  the  one  book  we 
carry  into  the  chamber  of  the  dying  and  into 
the  home  of  the  bereaved.  If  it  were  suddenly 
taken  out  of  the  world  altogether,  what  a 
dismal  void  would  be  left  in  myriads  of  broken 
hearts !  What  millions  of  feet  would  wander 
into  paths  of  deeper  sin  than  have  yet  been 
trod !  Knowing  that  nothing  can  take  its 
place,  our  hands  may  well  grasp  it  tighter 
every  day,  and  our  souls  ponder  it  with  fresh 
delight,  till,  in  the  light  of  God's  secret  heaven, 
we  see  and  understand  it  all. 


ALL  SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 
WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD 


I  oome  to  Thee  to-night, 
In  my  lone  closet  where  no  eye  can  see, 
And  dare  to  seek  communion  high  with  Thee, 
Father  of  love  and  light  1 

If  I  this  day  have  striven, 
With  Thy  blest  Spirit,  or  have  bowed  the  knee 
To  aught  of  earth  in  weak  idolatry, 
I  pray  to  be  forgiven. 

If  I  have  turned  away 

From  grief  or  suffering  which  I  might  relieve 
Careless  the  cup  of  water  ev'n  to  give. 
Forgive  me,  Lord,  I  prayl 

Not  for  myself  alone 

Would  I  the  blessings  of  Thy  love  implore  ; 
But  for  each  penitent  the  wide  world  o'er, 
Whom  Thou  hast  called  Thine  own. 

And  for  my  heart's  best  friends. 
Whose  stedfast  kindness  o'er  my  painful  years, 
Has  watched,  to  soothe  affliction's  grief  and  tears, 
My  warmest  prayer  ascends. 

Should  o'er  tneir  path  decline 
The  light  of  gladness,  or  of  hope,  or  health, 
Be  Thou  their  solace,  and  their  joy,  and  wealth, 
As  they  have  long  been  mine." 

Lyka  Anglicana. 


XIX 

ALL  SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 
WHEN  WE   ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD 

rriHERE  is  another  privilege  connected  with 
the  secret  place  of  intercourse  with  God 
which  must  not  be  overlooked,  the  privilege  of 
prayer  for  others  as  weU  as  for  ourselves.  The 
prayer-chamber  is  to  be  a  place  of  large  inter- 
cession ;  and  only  if  it  be  so  is  the  full  blessed- 
ness of  it  reached.  Paradoxical  seemingly,  it 
is  yet  true,  that  when  most  alone  with  God, 
we  must  have  many  others  beside  us  there. 
We  must  take  our  friends  and  brethren 
there ;  we  must  take  all  the  sinful  and 
sorrowful  there ;  we  must  take  the  whole 
Church  there  ;  we  must  take  the  whole  world 
there,  and  speak  to  God  in  behalf  of  all  of  these. 

15  209 


210    SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 

This   is    a    much-forgotten   duty,    but    it    is    a 
greatly  undervalued  privilege  as  well. 

God  might  certainly  have  limited  our  prayers 
to  ourselves,  just  as  we  have  to  repent  for 
ourselves,  and  believe  for  ourselves.  That  He 
allows  intercessory  prayer  in  addition  to 
personal  prayer  is,  therefore,  a  proof  of  the 
exceeding  largeness  of  His  loving  heart,  and 
of  His  desire  to  enlist  all  our  natural  feelings 
of  sympathy  on  the  side  of  His  gracious 
purpose  to  bless  as  widely  as  blessing  can  go. 
For  these  intercessory  prayers  are  a  distinct 
means  of  drawing  down  blessing  where,  with- 
out them,  it  would  not  fall,  or  at  least  would 
be  long  delayed ;  and  in  this  way  we  can 
reach  many  who  are  beyond  reach  of  our 
words,  or  who  would  resent  the  words  if 
uttered.  The  shortest  way  to  many  a  heart 
in  whose  spiritual  well-being  we  are  deeply 
interested,  but  which  constantly  eludes  our 
efforts  to  reach  it  by  even  the  tenderest 
appeals,  is  round  by  the  Throne  of  Grace, 
where  we  ask  God  to  do  for  it  what  we 
cannot     do.       Hundreds     of     conversions     and 


WHEN  WE   ARE   ALONE  WITH  GOD     211 

restorations  have  resulted  from  such  secret 
prayers,  prayers  that  those  prayed  for  knew 
nothing  of. 

And  it  is  not  only  for  such  great  spiritual 
blessings  to  come  to  them  that  we  ought  to 
intercede.  In  tender  human  sympathy  we 
ought  to  speak  to  God  about  their  every-day 
life,  their  cares  and  dangers,  their  sorrows  and 
their  joys,  and  ask  that  His  hand  may  guide 
them,  His  grace  sustain  them,  His  love  cheer 
them,  His  Spirit  sanctify  them,  and  His  power 
guard  them  from  dangers  we  see  close  beside 
them  but  they  do  not.  Few  things  are  more 
delightful  to  a  prayer-lover  than  thus  to  carry 
with  himself  into  the  Father's  presence  every 
friend  he  knows,  to  talk  of  every  one  by  name, 
to  lay  out  before  God  their  special  needs ; 
and  so  to  link  them  closer  to  himself  as  well 
as  to  his  Lord  by  the  sweet  bond  of  prayer. 

Such  prayer  for  others  will  always  have  a 
salutary  reflex  influence  upon  ourselves.  It 
will  lead  to  a  deepening  of  our  interest  in 
those  for  whom  we  pray,  to  ^viser  eflforts  for 
them,  and  to  a  greater  watchfulness  over  our- 


212    SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 

selves,  lest  anything  in  ourselves  should  hinder 
the  success  of  the  prayer.  And  prayer  for 
ourselves  may  sometimes  remain  unanswered, 
because  it  is  selfish  prayer.  What  Joseph  said 
to  Jacob's  other  sons  in  Egypt,  God  may 
sometimes  say  to  us,  "  Ye  shall  not  see  My 
face  except  your  brother  be  with  you."  It  is 
significantly  said  at  the  end  of  the  history  of 
Job,  "  The  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Job 
when  he  prayed  for  his  friends,"  the  very 
friends  who  had  cruelly  misjudged  him,  and 
been  bitter  against  him. 

Then  our  secret  prayer  must  take  a  wider 
sweep  and  embrace  all  the  earth.  We  are  to 
be  God's  *'  remembrancers,"  who  "give  Him  no 
rest"  till  He  has  made  His  kingdom  world- 
wide. It  is  for  this  that  Christ  is  praying  in 
the  secret  heaven  ;  and  we  are  to  be  "  fellow- 
workers  with  Him"  in  this  as  in  so  many 
other  ways.  An  ever-interceding  Christ  above, 
and  an  ever-interceding  discipleship  below,  are 
to  be  joined  together  in  unfainting  prayer 
till  "  His  name  is  hallowed  on  earth  as  it  is 
hallowed   in   heaven,  His  kingdom  is   come   on 


WHEN  WE  ARE  ALONE  WITH  GOD     213 

earth  as  it  is  come  in  heaven,  His  will  is  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven." 

But  all  this  is  easy  work  for  the  prayer- 
chamber  compared  with  another  that  lies 
equally  upon  us.  To  pray  for  personal  relatives 
and  friends,  for  fellow-Christians,  for  the  whole 
Church,  for  the  millions  sunk  in  darkness  and 
ignorance  and  sadness,  and  superstition  and 
vice,  is  not  so  difficult  as  to  pray  lovingly  for 
some  living  close  beside  us  who  treat  us  with 
contempt  or  with  malevolence,  and  daily  do  us 
wrong. 

It  might  be  thought  the  very  extravagance 
of  charity  to  ask  us  to  pray  for  ovir  enemies, 
our  rivals,  our  detractors,  our  persecutors, 
those  whose  evil  tongues  spread  slanderous 
reports  concerning  us,  whose  bitter  feelings 
towards  us  are  never  disguised,  whose  cold 
hatred  meets  us  at  every  turn.  But  to  pi'ay 
for  these  is  one  of  the  most  distinct  com- 
mands of  Christ,  "  Pray  for  those  that  de- 
spitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you."  He 
knew  well  what  He  was  saying  when  He  gave 
that  command.     He   knew   that  it  will  be  im- 


214    SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 

possible  for  us  to  reciprocate  their  hatred  and 
malevolence  and  contempt  if  we  pray  lovingly 
for  them.  He  knew  that  the  quickest  way  of 
overcoming  their  evil,  and  of  preventing 
feelings  of  anger  against  them  from  over- 
coming us,  is  to  pray  for  them  in  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  prayed  for  His  very 
murderers  upon  the  Cross.  A  good  man  once 
wrote  in  his  journal  these  words :  "  Many  a 
one  would  never  have  had  a  special  place  in 
my  prayers  but  for  the  injuries  he  had  done 
to  me."  That  was  the  very  spirit  of  his  Lord. 
Wrathful  feelings  against  those  who  treat  us 
ill  will  often  prevent  prayer  for  ourselves 
being  granted.  "First  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother,  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift,"  is  a 
rule  that  may  apply  even  to  the  presenting  of 
prayers  at  the  mercy-seat.  If,  therefore,  at  any 
time  there  seems  to  be  a  hiding  of  God's  face, 
and  the  door  of  access  to  Him  seems  shut 
when  we  would  enter  in,  let  us  try  if  the  key 
of  intercession  for  others  will  not  turn  the  lock. 
Then,  too,  the  quiet  of  the  secret  place  will 
help   us  to   examine   ourselves,  to  see   if    there 


WHEN  WE  ARE   ALONE   WITH   GOD    215 

may  not  be  reasons  on  our  own  side  for  the 
ill-will  in  others  of  which  we  complain.  If  we 
are  able,  in  this  secrecy  with  God,  to  correct 
our  too  flattering  judgments  of  ourselves,  we 
are  also  able  there  to  correct  our  too  harsh, 
unsympathetic,  and  uncharitable  judgments  of 
others.  We  may  carry  our  feelings  of  irritation 
against  an  offending  brother  to  the  door  of  the 
secret  place,  but  it  will  be  difficult  to  give  them 
house-room  within  it.  It  has  a  wonderfully 
clarifying  effect  to  look  at  what  offends  us  in 
the  treatment  meted  out  to  us  by  others,  or  in 
the  feelings  we  suspect  them  to  be  cherishing 
towards  us  —  to  look  at  these  quietly  and 
seriously  "  in  the  cool  of  the  day,"  and  at  the 
very  time  we  are  confessing  our  need  of  pardon 
for  sins  of  our  own. 

Forgiveness  of  sin  is  the  first  blessing  we 
receive  when  we  come  home  to  God.  Renewed 
assurance  of  this  forgiveness  is  what  we  seek  as 
often  as  we  bend  in  secret  before  our  forgiving 
Lord.  But  we  cannot  have  that  assurance 
unless  we  are  really  forgiving  our  brethren  as 
God  forgives   us — in   the    same    generous    for- 


216    SELFISH  FEELINGS  ARE  EXPELLED 

getting  way,  and  to  the  same  extent — "  not 
unto  seven  times,  but  unto  seventy  times  seven." 
"  If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither 
will  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  forgive  you"; 
and  we  can  best  learn  this  forgiving  spirit  in 
secret  with  the  Lord,  where,  taking  a  calm 
review  of  the  day,  we  look  with  uninflamed 
hearts  at  what,  when  the  blood  was  hot,  we 
construed  as  meaning  studied  slights,  or  insults, 
or  wrongs. 

For  this  correction  of  our  own  temper  and 
dispositions  towards  offending  brethren  there  is 
nothing  like  an  hour  of  calm  with  God.  The 
duty  of  cultivating  a  right  temper  we  do  not 
consider  so  much  as  we  ought.  Defects  of 
temper  in  us  are  often  seen  where  there  are  no 
great  flaws  of  any  other  kind — and  they  do 
more  damage  to  our  Christian  name  than  we 
think.  And  yet  we  often  treat  them  as  if  they 
were  of  very  small  account.  We  say  of  some 
exhibition  of  hasty  anger,  or  some  aggravating 
word,  "  Oh !  it  was  only  my  hot  temper,  I 
meant  nothing  serious  by  it."  Do  we  suffi- 
ciently  realise   that   almost   every   one    of    the 


WHEN  WE  ARE   ALONE  WITH  GOD     217 

actings  of  Christian  love  detailed  in  the 
13th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians  has  to  do  with 
the  feelings  and  the  temper,  rather  than  with  the 
active  life  ?  How  do  we  make  distinctions  of 
blameworthiness  where  God  makes  none? 
Dishonesty,  falsehood,  impurity,  we  do  condemn, 
and  are  ashamed  of  them ;  but  irritability  of 
temper,  proneness  to  take  offence,  overweening 
self-esteem,  ungenerous  suspicion  of  motives, 
evil  thinking,  and  evil  surmising — why  do  we 
account  these  not  positive  sins  but  only  slight 
blemishes,  or  even  constitutional  tendencies  that 
we  cannot  help  ? 

We  do  need  to  have  our  harsh  judgments  of 
others  corrected  as  well  as  our  flattering  judg- 
ments of  ourselves ;  and  nowhere  can  this 
correcting  of  them  be  effected  but  in  the  quiet 
secret  place  where  we  are  alone  with  God,  and 
ask  of  Him  the  all-seeing  One,  to  give  us  the 
seeing  eye  that  will  make  our  judgments  of 
others  more  like  what  His  judgment  is,  and  our 
feelings  towards  our  brethren  more  like  what 
His  feelings  of  compassionate  and  merciful  love 
are  to  us  all. 


WE  KNOW  THE  JOY  OF  PERFECT  SELF- 
SURRENDER  WHEN  WE  GET  ALONE 
WITH  GOD 


"How  blessed,  from  the  bonds  of  sin 

And  earthly  fetters  free, 
In  singleness  of  heart  and  aim 

Thy  servant.  Lord,  to  be  I 
The  hardest  toil  to  undertake 

"With  joy,  at  Thy  command. 
The  meanest  office  to  receive 

With  meekness  at  Thy  hand  I 

Thus  may  I  serve  Thee,  gracious  Lord, 

Thus  ever  Thine  alone; 
My  soul  and  body  given  to  Thee, 

The  purchase  Thou  hast  won ! 
Through  evil  or  through  good  report 

Still  keeping  by  Thy  side ; 
And  by  my  life,  or  by  my  death, 

Let  Christ  be  magniried  I 

Hymns  from  the  Land  of  Luther. 


XX 


WE  KNOW  THE  JOY  OF  PERFECT  SELF- 
SURRENDER  WHEN  WE  GET  ALONE 
WITH  GOD 

/^NE  of  the  special  joys  of  the  secret  hour 
^■^^  with  God  is  that  then,  in  stillness  of 
soul,  we  can  renew  our  full  surrender  of  our- 
selves and  of  all  that  concerns  us  into  the 
loving  hands  of  Him  who  alone  can  "keep  us 
from  falling,"  and  "  sanctify  us  wholly,"  and 
"  make  all  things  work  together  for  our  good." 
Our  self -surrender  to  the  Lord  is  not  a  thing 
to  be  made  once  for  all  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  life.  It  needs  to  be  renewed  per- 
petually :  and  if  it  is  a  duty  to  make  this  daily 
self-surrender,  it  is  also  a  joy.  It  wonderfully 
calms   the  spirit   that  has   been  ruffled   by  the 

221 


222     THE  JOY  OF  SELF-SURRENDER 

worries  of  the  day,  by  the  trials  to  faith  and 
patience  that  have  been  met  with  every  hour, 
and  by  conscious  defeats  in  the  battle  with 
sin,  to  bring  all  these  disturbing  and  chafing 
vexations  and  lay  them  down  at  God's  feet 
and  leave  them  there. 

It  also  wonderfully  helps  us,  when  the  day 
begins,  and  before  facing  the  world  again,  to 
have  a  quiet  hour  in  which  to  brace  ourselves 
for  meeting  whatever  the  day  may  bring ;  and 
then  to  go  forth  into  its  duties  and  its  trials, 
its  temptations  and  its  opportunities,  fortified 
by  a  strength  and  wisdom  far  exceeding  any 
of  our  own,  gained  by  fellowship  with  Him. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  feel  the  need  of 
putting  our  earthly  concerns  into  His  wiser 
hands :  it  is  comparatively  easy,  too,  to  feel 
the  need  of  Divine  strength  for  the  great 
duties  that  lie  to  our  own  hands :  but  some- 
thing more  than  that,  and  more  difficult  than 
that,  is  needed  too ;  to  put  the  soul  itself  into 
His  hands,  that  all  its  emotions,  ambitions, 
and  desires  may  be  thoroughly  controlled  by 
Him  at  every  moment  of  the  day. 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH   GOD  223 

It  is  easy  to  say  and  feel,  "My  times  are  in 
Thy  hand " ;  but  we  need  also  to  put  our 
spirits  into  His  hand  for  a  completer  sanctifica- 
tion  of  what  is  within,  and  to  do  this  before 
the  assaults  sure  to  be  made  upon  our  spirits 
have  begun :  for  the  spirit  is  the  most  vul- 
nerable point  of  us,  and,  contrary  to  what  is 
usually  the  case  in  human  assaults,  none  of 
the  outworks  fall  until  the  citadel  has  fallen 
first.  To  be  securely  fortified  against  such  a 
defeat,  "  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth 
understanding  must  keep  the  heart  and  the 
mind  by  Christ  Jesus,"  and  to  gain  that  for- 
tifying peace  is  the  blessed  work  and  privilege 
of  the  quiet  hour  alone  with  God,  where  we 
learn  to  put  on  the  armour  that  will  make 
us  conquerors  in  the  evil  day. 

For  no  dependence  can  be  placed  on  our 
own  power  to  guard  our  spirits  from  defeat. 
"  Except  the  Lord  keep  the  city  the  watchman 
waketh  in  vain."  But  what  if  the  watchman 
be  not  awake,  but  asleep,  knowing  nothing  till 
he  finds  the  city  taken  by  the  foe  ?  That  is  a 
double  disaster,  and  our  souls,  therefore,  must 


224     THE   JOY  OF  SELF-SURRENDER 

be  in  better  keeping  than  our  own  from  hour 
to  hour.  We  need  to  "  commit  the  keeping  of 
our  souls  to  Him."  The  power  of  a  Divine 
Hand  must  be  upon  us,  the  shielding  of  a 
Divine  Hand  must  be  around  us  if  we  are  to 
be,  even  for  one  moment,  safe.  The  very  same 
grace  that  was  needed  to  carry  the  martyrs 
triumphant  through  the  flames  is  needed  to 
carry  any  one  of  us  unpolluted  through  the 
world.  The  one  victory  is  as  truly  a  Divine 
victory  as  the  other,  and  only  a  Divine  Hand 
can  give  it.  At  the  outset  of  the  Christian  life 
we  know  the  saving  power  of  Christ  upon  us ; 
in  all  the  after-course  of  the  Christian  life 
we  must  know  the  keeping  power  of  Christ 
within  us.  First  we  are  Divinely  conquered ; 
thenceforward,  to  the  very  end,  we  must  be 
Divinely  controlled.  But  this  can  be  a  real 
experience  to  us  only  if  that  Divine  control  is 
prayed  for  and  surrendered  to  in  secret  every 
day. 

Do  not  most  of  us  make  a  great  practical 
mistake  as  to  the  way  in  which  our  lives  are 
to  be  brought  into  subjection  to  Christ?     Paul, 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH   GOD  225 

writing  to  the  Thessalonians,  said,  "I  pray 
God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be 
preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  puts  the  spirit  first, 
the  body  last.  We  often  misquote  his  words 
as  if  they  ran  "  your  body,  soul,  and  spirit " : 
but  that  is  not  his  order,  it  is  the  very  re- 
verse of  it.  The  first  thing  we  are  to  look 
to  is  the  attitude  of  the  spirit,  the  first  thing 
we  are  to  seek  is  the  rectification  of  the 
spirit,  and  then  the  other  constituents  of  the 
whole  nature  will  be  sanctified  as  the  result 
of  that.  The  spirit  controls  the  soul,  and  the 
soul  controls  the  body ;  but  if  we  begin  by 
trying  to  put  the  body  right  before  we  have 
yielded  the  spirit  to  an  absolute  Divine  control, 
before  we  have  got  that  which  is  the  highest 
force  within  us  put  right  and  kept  right,  there 
will  be  nothing  but  disappointment  and  miser- 
able failure  in  our  attempts  to  subdue  the  body 
to  God. 

That  order  of  procedure  will  not  do.  We 
must  begin  each  day  by  first  of  all  surren- 
dering   the   spirit  completely   to   Jesus   Christ, 

16 


226     THE  JOY  OF  SELF-SURRENDER 

our  Master  and  our  King ;  and  this  enthrone- 
ment of  Christ  within  us  will  carry  with  it 
necessarily,  if  it  be  a  real  thing,  the  dethrone- 
ment of  self,  the  ambitions  of  self,  the  plans 
of  self,  the  will  of  self,  the  lustings  of  self. 
Full  surrender  to  Him  implies  His  full  mastery 
over  us ;  and  till  that  is  both  acknowledged 
as  a  thing  that  ought  to  be,  and  experienced 
as  a  thing  that  is,  there  can  be  nothing  in  us 
of  that  joy  and  freedom  and  power  that 
come  pouring  into  the  really  consecrated 
heart. 

What  joy  it  gives,  and  strength  too,  to 
begin  each  day  by  feeling,  "  On  this  day  once 
again  I  am  to  live  simply  as  a  "servant  of 
Jesus  Christ :  His  will  and  not  my  own  will 
is  to  sway  me  every  hour ! "  "A  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ ! "  then  I  dare  not  be  the  servant 
of  sin ;  I  must  be  holy  as  my  Master  is  holy. 
"  A  servant  of  Jesus  Christ ! "  then  I  will  not 
be  the  servant  of  men :  the  maxims  of  the 
world  will  not  rule  me ;  I  will  not  take  my 
cue  from  the  world ;  I  am  under  orders  only 
to  my  Master  in  heaven.     "  A  servant  of  Jesus 


WHEN  ALONE   WITH  GOD  227 

Christ!"  then  I  rmust  be  the  servant  of  men, 
to  help  them,  to  comfort  them,  and  to  stoop 
to  the  lowest  offices  in  their  behalf  as  my 
Master  did.  "A  servant  of  Jesus  Christ!" 
then,  if  His  servant  anjrwhere,  I  must  be  His 
servant  everywhere ;  in  all  society  with  men 
I  must  never  forget  my  servanthood  to  Him  : 
I  must  show  myself  His  servant  openly  as  well 
as  confess  it  secretly.  "  A  servant  of  Jesus 
Christ ! "  then,  if  I  want  to  know  Him,  I  have 
simply  to  imitate  Him,  to  walk  as  He  walked, 
to  plant  my  feet  in  His  footprints.  As  the 
eyes  of  servants  look  unto  the  hand  of  their 
masters,  to  see  how  their  work  should  be  done, 
and  copy  what  they  see,  so  my  eyes  "must 
wait  upon  the  Lord."  If  His  service  is  some- 
times difficult  I  must  not  complain  :  He  may 
use  me  as  He  wills.  And  at  the  end  of  all  I 
will  be  more  than  satisfied  if  I  only  hear  Him 
say,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant, 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

To  be  a  true  and  faithful  servant  such  as 
this  I  must  put  myself  daily,  by  fresh  sur- 
render, into  Almighty  hands,  and  so  I  use  the 


228    THE  JOY  OF  SELF-SURRENDER 

words  of  ancient  trust,  "Into  Thy  hands  I 
commit  my  spirit"  for  this  day  and  every  day 
till  I  need  them  no  more.  These  words  Jesus 
Himself  used  when,  on  the  Cross,  He  was 
looking  out  on  death;  but  they  had  been, 
before  that,  the  words  of  one  who  was 
looking  out,  not  on  death,  but  on  the  dif- 
ficulties and  trials  of  life.  If  they  were 
enough  for  my  Master  to  die  upon  they  are 
more  than  enough  for  me  to  live  upon,  and 
so  I  say — 

Into  Thy  'protecting  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit,  for  the  keeping  of  it.  Life  is  full  of 
temptations,  the  world  full  of  snares ;  I  cannot 
keep  myself,  but  Thou  canst  keep  me  from 
falling ;    I  trust  myself  to  Thee. 

Into  Thy  tender  hands  I  commit  my  spirit 
for  the  comforting  of  it.  The  sorrows  of  my 
life  may  be  many,  the  waters  deep,  the 
furnace  hot;  I  may  have  thick  darkness  over 
me  soon  in  which  I  will  lose  all  my  joy,  but 
if  Thou  wilt  whisper  to  me  then,  "I  am  with 
thee  still,"  I  will  fear  no  evil. 

Into    Thy    correcting    hands     I     commit    my 


WHEN  ALONE  WITH  GOD  229 

spirit  for  the  sanctifying  of  it.  I  am  willing 
to  be  chastened  if  only  the  chastening  makes 
me  purer  than  before.  Take  what  way  Thou 
wilt  with  me,  I  will  bless  the  hand  that 
smites. 

Into  Thy  moulding  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit  for  the  consecrating  of  it.  Use  me  for 
Thy  glory.  I  would  not  live  to  myself.  Let 
self  be  killed  that  Christ  may  be  all  in  me. 
Turn  me  as  the  clay  is  turned  in  the  potter's 
hands.  I  would  fain  be  a  vessel  for  the 
Master's  use,  filled  with  the  Master's  grace, 
and  Thou  canst  make  me  so. 

Then  if  death  should  come  even  suddenly 
and  call  for  me,  I  will  hear  Thee  calling,  and 
reply,  "  Into  Thy  redeeming  hands  I  commit 
my  spirit  for  the  glorifying  of  it.  Thy 
creating  hands  fashioned  me,  Thy  preserving 
hands  have  kept  me.  Thy  guiding  hands  have 
led  me.  Thy  appealing  hands  have  beckoned 
to  me,  Thy  smiting  hands  have  chastened 
me,  but  they  were  always  saving  hands  that 
delivered  me,  and  sheltering  hands  that 
covered   me.     I  ever  found  them   to  be   loving 


230    THE  JOY  OF  SELF-SURRENDER 

hands,  I  have  proved  them  to  be  strong,  and 
so  I  trust  myself  entirely  and  for  ever  to 
Thee ;  '  Into  Thy  hands  I  commit  my  spirit, 
for  Thou  hast  redeemed  me,  O  Lord  God  of 
truth.' " 


DNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED,  THE  GRESaVBI  PRESS,  WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


Date 

Due 

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K.?5     -^>' 

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19M 

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Prmcelon  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01025  0779 


